Dismay at new election developments
GEORGETOWN :
THE CARIBBEAN Community (CARICOM) Wednesday expressed concern at the developments in Guyana, where the official results of the disputed March 2 regional and general election is yet to be officially released.
CARICOM Chairman and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley in a statement, said “many of us have observed with great sadness what has been transpiring in Guyana.
“It is more than 100 days since the people of Guyana went to the polls. And yet there is no declared result. From the very beginning we have been clear and said consistently that every vote must count and every vote must be made to count in a fair and transparent way,” she said.
But she noted that ‘regrettably, we have seen a level of gamesmanship that has left much to be desired and has definitely not portrayed our Caribbean region in the best light.
“This is definitely NOT our finest hour and we must not shy away from that reality,” she said, adding that CARICOM “is concerned at reports that the chief elections officer has submitted a report to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) which is contrary to the directions given by the Commission and which does not reflect the results of the recount process as certified by the very staff of the Guyana Elections Commission and witnessed by representatives of the political parties.
“Indeed, these numbers and the certification of them were also witnessed by our CARICOM Observer team. They travelled to Guyana (in spite of the pandemic and the risk to themselves) and they scrutinised the recount process,” Mottley said.
The Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Guyana’s highest court, Tuesday said that it would issue an order that will continue to put on hold the Court of Appeal ruling regarding the disputed elections.
CONCERNS
The statement by the CCJ comes after the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, Tuesday submitted his report to the chairperson of GECOM showing that the ruling coalition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), had won the disputed elections.
In his letter to the GECOM chairperson, retired Justice Claudette Singh, the Chief Elections Officer said that he had “taken note of the guidance of the Court of Appeal…in the preparation of my report under Section 96 of the Representation of the People’s Act”
He said that his report contains “a table showing the credible and valid votes cast in accordance with the Representation of the People’s Act”.
According to Lowenfield’s tabulation, the coalition received 171,825 votes compared with 166, 343 votes cast on behalf of the main opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
Based on his calculation, the coalition APNU will have 33 seats in the National Assembly, with the PPP/C gaining 31 seats and the parties on the Joined Lists gaining one seat.
Following the June 9 national recount of the votes cast in the election, the PPP/C said it had won the polls by a margin in excess of 15,000 votes.