Community News
When is it going to all end? Guyana’s vote recount fiasco
BY MICHAEL THOMAS
Guyana’s general election took place on March 2nd, 2020, and under normal circumstances the citizens of that country and the world, in general, should have known the results in a few days after the election. Not this year.
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) challenged the results and requested a recount, and now three months after the election was held, the recount saga continues for what seems like an eternity now.
The two main parties in this election are the PPP (who has a mostly East Indian support base) composes around 44% of the population. The ruling party the (APNU+AFC) is mostly supported by Afro-Guyanese number and is around 30% of the population.
According to Global Voices news, it all began after a no-confidence motion against Guyana’s governing coalition (Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change/ APNU+AFC), by the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP), was filed on Dec 21st, 2018, and resulted in a general election held on March 2nd, 2020, a year after it was constitutionally due.
The EU ambassador to Guyana Fernando Ponz Canto said in a televised broadcast that from what he observed, the voting rules were so tight that it was impossible to cheat. Since the recount began, the APNU+AFC claims that there has been fraudulent votes cast on Election Day in dead and migrated people’s names.
Ambassador Noel Lynch (Chair of the group of CARICOM Ambassadors to the Organization of American States) said, “Irregularities occurred, not in the system by which the Guyanese electorate cast their votes on March 2nd, but in the presentation of the count afterward.”
Guyana’s People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has accused the government of the day namely (APNU+AFC) of election fixing and delaying the recount especially in region four, also known as Georgetown which is the area with the most ballots, in an attempt to deceive the voters and remain in power.
Hon. Gail Teixeira, MP said, “I think that everyone has recognized that there is a deliberate attempt to assure that region four drags on as long as possible.”
The Minister went on to say, “When all this is done GCOM will face an enormous assault on the way they have contributed to the pain and anguish of Guyanese now in the 87th day of waiting for results from these elections.”
According to Guyana Chronicle, as things stand now on day 24 of the recount, which is May 29th, 2020, 1,473 ballot boxes have been processed, from an overall total of 2,339 and all of the votes from regions 1,2,3,5 and 7 have been counted. The focus now is on regions 4,6,8,9 and 10.
President David Granger and Leader of the opposition Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo agreed on the recount process. It was supposed to last 25 days, but so far that is subject to review, and as of now that review is ongoing.
Concerning the recount, it is important to note that CARICOM Chair and PM of Barbados, Mia Mottley said, “It is clear that there are forces that do not want to see the votes recounted for whatever reason. Any government which is sworn in without credible and transparent vote count process would lack legitimacy.”
Mr. Jagdeo is accusing the ruling coalition of using things like dead people and people out of the country voting as a smokescreen to divert attention from the real issues, which according to him is that his party the PPP won the election.
On the other hand, President David Granger said that his collation party plans to abide by the declaration made by the Guyana Elections Commission following the recount. Granger also said, “I am very confident in CARICOM’S integrity and ability, and I just want to repeat what the ambassador of Barbados to Washington said that CARICOM is the most legitimate interlocutor on the Guyana situation.”
President Granger added that he would like to see this result come to a speedy but correct end in the interest of all Guyanese people.
As of June 3rd, 2020, all of the regions except regions 6, 10 and 4 have been counted.
Resources
Most recent Recount update
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=1693877684098221&ref=watch_permalink
http://parliament.gov.gy/about-parliament/parliamentarian/gail-teixeira/
https://globalvoices.org/2020/03/08/guyanas-2020-general-election-results-mired-in-controversy/