Brazil throws weight behind CARICOM and recount results
The Brazilian Government announced that it has been closely following the developments in Guyana’s General and Regional Elections and is ready to see a declaration made on the basis of the results of the national recount. In so doing, Brazil endorsed the findings of CARICOM, in line with calls from the United States of America, Britain, Canada, Norway, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, the Organization of American States, the Commonwealth, the Carter Centre, and the European Union.
This is the first country in the continent of South America to have spoken out on Guyana’s protracted, contentious 2020 electoral process. Brazil stated that delays to the conclusion of the electoral process pose a serious threat to stability in Guyana and “a departure from the democratic commitments that the country must observe in the regional context.”
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Guyana has signed on to regional charters which require it to maintain the highest democratic principles. However, delays to the conclusion of the democratic process for four and a half months are owed to multiple, sustained attempts to rig the elections in favour of the APNU+AFC coalition. “The Brazilian government calls on Guyanese political forces to respect the popular will emanating from the elections, in line with the recent sentence of the Caribbean Court of Justice, in order to guarantee the prompt official announcement of the country’s new representatives.” The coalition has claimed that the ruling of the Caribbean Court has tanked the legality of the recount, and has advocated for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to fall back on fraudulent results which would give it a false victory, but have been overtaken by the national recount. Brazil said that it endorses the findings of the CARICOM mission regarding the recount process, which found that the elections were credible and that the recount results are completely acceptable. Those results show that the PPP/C got 233,336 votes, ahead of the coalition’s 217,920 votes.
The country’s Foreign Affairs Ministry noted that there is currently no impediment to the declaration of the results, and called for it to be swiftly made. Finally, Brazil noted that as an associated state of MERCORSUR, the South American trade bloc, Guyana should remain among the American nations committed to the highest democratic principles.
( Kaieteur News )