Guyana’s de facto Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Karen Cummings has told the US Ambassador here that it may not be possible for the Carter Center and an advisor of the International Republican Institute (IRI) to oversee the recount of votes from the March 2nd general elections.
Cummings’ letter of today’s date to US Ambassador Sarah-Ann Lynch was in response to a diplomatic note from the US Embassy of May 14 which in turn supplemented an April 29 note on the return of the Carter Center team. The US Embassy has not released the notes but they were aimed at clearing the way for the return of observers from the Carter Center who had mounted a mission to the March 2nd elections but had withdrawn after a stalemate had arisen over the District Four votes. The Center has said it wishes to return for the recount but has not gotten clearance. The US, Canada, the UN and the OAS are among those that have called for the return of the Carter Center.
In her letter to Lynch, Cummings identified CARICOM as the ” …the most legitimate interlocutors in the Guyana situation”. Those words were an exact quote by Barbados’ Ambassador to the Organisation of American States (OAS) when he spoke on Wednesday at the presentation of a preliminary report on Guyana’s elections by former Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding who had headed the OAS observer mission here. Golding in his presentation produced evidence of rigging at the March 2nd elections. Noel Lynch in his statement after Golding’s presentation had vowed that CARICOM would stick to its observation mission here to ensure a credible result and he had said that the regional body would not abide by the erosion of democracy in any of its member states.
Cummings letter to Sarah-Ann Lynch also cited the restrictions that attend the COVID-19 pandemic including the closure of international airports. She then added that “it may not be possible for the Carter (Center) and the IRI Advisor to participate in the overseeing of the recount of the votes cast on 2nd March 2020 General and Regional Elections which as you are aware has already commenced”.
Analysts have noted that the Guyana Government has permitted multiple flights of oil workers into and out of the country during the shutdown and therefore the denial of a return of the Carter Center observers would be seen as trying to prevent broad scrutiny of the recount.
Cummings ended her letter to the US Ambassador by saying: “The Government of Guyana requests that the legitimate decisions it has taken with respect to the role of the Caribbean Community in the recount of the ballots cast in the General and Regional Elections and the Emergency Measures it has implemented to protect its citizens from the COVID-19 pandemic be respected”.
The Carter Center has made it clear that it is prepared to comply with the COVID-19 requirements.
A copy of Cummings’ letter to Lynch follows:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
254 South Road & Shiv Chanderpaul Dr.,
Georgetown, Guyana ·
Telephone: 226-1606-9, 227-4324
Email:kcummings@minfor.gov.gy Website :www.minfor.gov.gy
15 May 2020
Her Excellency Sarah-Ann Lynch, Ambassador
Embassy of the United States of America Kingston, Georgetown
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a Diplomatic Note 110/2020 on May 14 from your Embassy indicating that the Note is written and sent to supplement the Embassy’s April 29 Diplomatic Note 105/2020 and for the Foreign Affairs Ministry to consider the re- admission of observers from the Carter Centre including an Advisor from the International Republican Institute (IRI) to
participate in the recount of the votes cast on 2nd March 2020 General and Regional
Elections.
I take this opportunity to inform you and to iterate that:
1) The Caribbean Community remains ” …the most legitimate interlocutors in
the Guyana situation” and that Guyana, equally, is confident in the legitimacy, credibility, and competence of the CARICOM Team to perform its task.
2) Owing to the Public Health situation which arose as a consequence of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and the series of Emergency Measures that were promulgated since 16th March 2020, including the imposition of a curfew and the closure of its international airports; it may not be possible for the Carter Centre and the IRI Advisor to participate in the overseeing of the recount of the votes cast on 2nd March 2020 General and Regional Elections which as you are aware has already commenced.
3) The Government of Guyana requests that the legitimate decisions it has taken with respect to the role of the Caribbean Community in the recount of the ballots cast in the General and Regional Elections and the Emergency Measures it has implemented to protect its citizens from the COVID-19 pandemic be respected.
Karen Cummings
Minister of Foreign Affairs