The conclusion that certain members of Gecom were involved in manipulating the Region Four results cannot be avoided. Neither can it be denied that Gecom Chair Claudette Singh by her silence and inaction has compromised herself. But it would be stretching credulity to conclude that some commission officials decided all of their own volition and without reference to anyone else to show bias in favour of the incumbent governing party. Surely what has happened could not have occurred had it not been for the obsession of the party in the first instance to secure an overall majority either via the electoral path, or failing that, by alternative means. And at APNU’s head is President David Granger, who has had nothing to say publicly on the substantive issues relating to the Region Four tabulation.
His right-hand man, Director-General Joseph Harmon of the Ministry of the Presidency did speak, however. He told the media on Friday that it was expected the High Court would discharge the injunction granted to PPP/C lawyers on Thursday relating to the matter, clearing the way for the President to be sworn in. “We have to have the President sworn in quickly,” he said, “[so] that his government will be able to take the necessary steps to guarantee the peace, stability and security of this country.” Other issues aside, such a move would certainly not have guaranteed either peace or stability. But more significant, his words imply he regarded the bypassing of due process as urgent if there were to be no challenge and the return of the government were to be ensured.
When he first came to office, President Granger was something of an enigma, but no longer. With this latest sequence of events where his party appears to have taken a leap once again into electoral fraud of the most blatant kind, and he himself is prepared to be sworn in as the new head of state, he cannot avoid the accusation that he is no more than an old-fashioned autocrat. In the past, cloistered within the walls of State House with their incongruous veneer of green paint, he has made decisions which were not always in congruity with the rules. He earned a reputation for reconciling any incompatibilities either through his eccentric readings of the laws and the constitution, or more often, by simply misinterpreting them. Court rulings too were not exempt from this approach.
But the Representation of the People Act is a different kettle of fish. Where the question of verifying and tabulating results is concerned, it is a blissfully simple and straightforward document, to which it would be well-nigh impossible to give even an eccentric reading. Under the relevant section the Returning Officer is required in the presence of observers and party agents to tally the votes in accordance with the Statements of Poll. As is now well known, strange events intervened during the Region Four process in the form of an illegal spreadsheet and a flash-drive, among other things, and the full count for the region was never completed. However, this did not inhibit Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo from attempting to announce a result which suggested a win for APNU+AFC.
Following this, local foreign diplomats who had already said that allegations of electoral fraud were credible, did meet with President Granger. The Ministry of the Presidency said that he had briefed them and told them that at every step of the electoral process he had complied with the laws of Guyana. A ministry post on Facebook read: “President Granger assured that at no time did he feel [Gecom] was incapable of conducting fair elections. He reminded that it is not the role of the executive to interfere in the work of the Commission.”
This has a familiar ring to it. No matter what the courts have found, President Granger has always insisted he has followed the law, in addition to which this is not the only occasion when he has raised the non-interference argument. But that does not matter now. What does matter is that the letter and spirit of the Representation of the People Act be followed. And it certainly will not be interfering in the work of the commission to join all the other parties in calling for the full verification and tabulation of the Region Four results. Why is it only his party which doesn’t want to follow the law? What problem could there possibly be if, as APNU+AFC has claimed, it has won the election? The SoPs will establish that beyond reasonable doubt.
Furthermore, the incumbent head of state cannot expect that anyone will take him seriously about his party having nothing to do with “the work” at Gecom. As said earlier, everyone else assumes complicity; it is the only logical explanation. And as for non-interference, how did his Foreign Minister end up in the Region Four office threatening foreign observers with the loss of accreditation? If she did not go at his behest, then has he reprimanded her severely for her behaviour? He certainly hasn’t distanced himself publicly from it.
If everyone, including former prime ministers and heads of state think that something was seriously wrong with the Region Four count, what is it that President Granger doesn’t see? Or doesn’t want to see? Surely his craving to hang on to power cannot be so great he would turn his party around to face towards the past and not the future, and eradicate all the progress it had so slowly and painfully made since 1992? If he does that, the PNCR might never recover again.
It is not as if in any case the President would be in a position to govern should he be sworn in illegally. And all the observer groups have expressed concerns about electoral fraud in Region Four. If the election is not certified by them, the Western world would not recognize him, the country might be expelled from the Commonwealth, sanctions would be applied and he would not have access possibly even to oil funds. He should find the case of President Nicolás Maduro instructive. And was it not his government which along with others recognized Juan Guaidó as the legitimate interim president of Venezuela because of a fraudulent election? Added to this, Mr Granger has to remember that this is not the 1970s and ͗80s. These are different times, a different context, a different population. There is no going backwards.
A major problem in our current circumstances is the danger of wide-scale disturbances. Unfortunately the two major parties in defiance of the code of conduct which they both signed announced that they had won, raising the expectations of their supporters. Whatever the outcome in terms of results, there is the possibility that one or the other constituency might protest, or in a worst case scenario, there could be clashes between the two. The onus is on President Granger in particular, to calm his base, and send the party stalwarts out to talk to the members in a rational way so they are prepared for the final declaration which might not be in their favour. The PPP/C too has to do more to restrain its supporters.
President Granger, among his other accomplishments is a historian. He knows there are no relative truths. It cannot be true that both the PPP/C and APNU+AFC won the same election. Only one of them has done so. And he knows that there are methods for establishing truths, which may be elusive if one goes back in time, but which hardly present any problems in our current situation. He should forget the specious political argumentation about following the law and non-interference, and follow his historian’s instincts. The truth is out there, and he should actively seek it.
Not to do so is not just to betray his party; it is to betray the nation.
