The United States has reiterated that it has no interest in any political party here and just wants a government which is elected credibly and reflects the will of this country’s citizenry, Director of the Office of Caribbean Affairs at the US State Department, Katherine Dueholm says.
“The US has no preference in the outcome of this process, only that it represents the views of the Guyanese people,” Dueholm last week told an online forum organised by the group Guyana International Inclusive Alliance (GIIA).
While she did not name the Carter Center, which was unable to send an observer here last Monday, Dueholm said that her government still hopes that international groups could still enter the country and be a part of the process. .”Some of you know that some of the international observers who were not permitted to return we are hopeful that they will be,” she said as she explained that nonpartisan observers do nothing but add credibility to the process.
The US government official also informed that her government gets frequent updates from its Ambassador here, Sarah-Ann Lynch who at the time of the forum had given a briefing on the recount process. “I have been on the phone with our Ambassador this afternoon. We have good initial reports of the recount and how it is beginning,” she said while pointing out that it is “it is not ideal”.
Dueholm said that it has always been the case that it was Ambassador Lynch herself who had highlighted when GECOM’s process starting going awry.
“With respect to the tabulation where things started to unravel, we based (that) on the very clear observations of our own Ambassador in the country who saw with her own eyes, the departure from Guyana’s own established processes. So this is not a US attempt to impose our electoral process. It is not listening to reports of tabulations coming from another quarter. It is our diplomats on the ground,” she said.
The tabulation she referred to was for District Four.
Two weeks ago, GECOM invited all observer missions which had been accredited for the March 2 general and regional elections to return to observe the recount of the votes cast.
However, the Carter Center, which is one of the five missions so far accredited, had attempted to have one member of its team travel to Guyana to observe the process but failed to secure clearance from the government.
Last Monday, the group said that it had “deployed an observer to Miami who was prepared to travel to Georgetown, but unfortunately, his flight was denied approval to carry international election observers.”
Government on Saturday said that the organization can return to Guyana to observe the national recount of votes, if it requests permission through the right channels and complies with the measures in place to prevent the spread of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).
While it remains unclear if the Carter Center will still try to get permission to enter the country, the US government is hoping that the recount process is completed in transparent way.
“Our hope is very much for a clean recount process, that produces whatever result it may but that is legitimate and represents a government that is the will of the Guyanese people,” Dueholm said.
