Dear Editor,
Ever since the declaration of the 2015 general and regional elections, the PPP has been agitating for a general recount of all the ballot boxes, and the resignation of Gecom Chairman, Dr Steve Surujbally. Protests have been organized and carried out in front Gecom offices, numerous press conferences have been called, letters have been sent to the press, and slanderous statements have been made on at least one radio station.
In refusing to accept the results of the elections, the PPP has taken to creating myths and legends about why it lost power after 23 years in office. Resurrecting the dark past about rigged elections seems to be the only game in town for the PPP – or at least some members of the PPP – who seem bent on misleading their supporters into believing the absurdity that the elections were rigged by Gecom in collusion with the APNU+AFC.
All stakeholders including the PPP know that the elections were conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner. The international Observer missions that the then PPP-led government invited to observe the elections, all reported positively on the professional manner with which Gecom conducted and managed the poll. Yet, amidst all of the positive reactions by the observers the PPP obstinately thinks that the elections were somehow rigged by Gecom.
Dr Surujbally has presided over three elections in Guyana (2006, 2011 and 2015), all of which have been peaceful. He is also the longest-serving head of an election management body in this hemisphere, and is well known and respected throughout the international electoral management fraternity. Dr Surujbally, the consummate professional, has presided over the growth and development of Gecom, and is responsible for shaping it into the professional and efficient agency it is today.
To try to besmirch the professional character of the Chairman and by extension the hard-working staff at the commission by making spurious claims about rigged elections, is not only imprudent, but demonstrates an inane disrespect for professionalism and the free, fair and transparent functioning of a democratic process.
The PPP was granted all the recounts it requested that were within reason. Those recounts yielded no numerical changes to the final results declared by Gecom. And the Chairman had absolutely nothing to do with the tabulation of results, or any of the other technical aspects of the conduct and management of the elections.
Dr Surujbally has served this nation with uncompromising professionalism and integrity, and should be accorded the dignity and respect he has earned throughout his long and accomplished professional career. I strongly believe that the Chairman should remain steadfast at the helm of Gecom and further shape the commission into becoming a world-class electoral management body.
Yours faithfully,
K Williams