What has transpired in this sister Caricom country since the March 2, 2020 election has basically been a circus, and it is indeed a shame that up to this stage a credible count of the votes has not been completed.
Jamaica Observer
Since 21 December 2018, Guyana has not had a democratically elected government in place to manage the affairs of the country and to restore it to a state of normalcy. The nation’ s psyche has been severely battered by the events that followed first through the refusal of the Government to accept the ruling of the Speaker of the National Assembly. It took more than six months of judicial review to resolve what was clearly the obvious.
Not satisfied that the outcome, and instead of calling elections not later than 18 September 2019, further obstacles were placed in the way. This time, concerns were raised about the apparent lack of readiness by the Elections Commission to hold such elections, notwithstanding that the Commission should always be a state of readiness to do so, considering the constitutional provision for elections to be held within three months of a successful vote of no confidence in the Government. That apart, GECOM had successfully run off the 2018 local government elections which all the stakeholders involved considered free, fair and credible.
Since the resignation of Steve Surujbally in February 2017, the battle lines were drawn as to who should replace him, although the Constitution is clear on the procedures to be followed. On three separate occasions, the Leader of the Opposition submitted a list of six names to the President for him to make a choice. However, the President rejected all three lists and proceeded with the unilateral appointment of James Patterson. The court subsequently ruled that Mr. Patterson’s appointment was unconstitutional.
During his brief tenure, Mr. Patterson sought to conduct a house-to-house registration of voters to replace to current voters’ list which the President had considered bloated by at least 200,000 names. This exercise would have taken at least six months to complete. However, the intervention of the court saw the exercise aborted, as the Chief Justice ruled that the names of persons on the existing voters’ list could not be removed unless certain requirements were met. Eventually, a new GECOM Chair was appointed in July 2019 through an agreement between the President and the Opposition Leader, ending 29 months of battle to settle the matter. Eventually, GECOM declared its readiness to hold elections, and the President dissolved Parliament on 30 December 2019, thereby paving the way for the 2 March 2020 elections.
Today marks 77 days since such elections were held without any declared winner to enable a new government to be sworn in. Attempts were made to do so after the Returning Officer (RO) for Region 4 on 5 and 13 March 2020 fiddled with the tabulation of the Statements of Poll (SOPs) for that region in the presence of local and international observers, the political parties contesting the elections and the media. All the local and international observers, the political parties contesting the elections (except APNU+AFC) and diplomatic missions from the ABCE countries spoke out about the lack of transparency and credibility of the results for Region 4, and hence the overall results. This resulted in the intervention of the Chair of CARICOM who was instrumental in having the President and the Leader of the Opposition agree to a total recount of all the votes cast.
In today’s article, we continue to track developments that took place in recount of the votes cast.
Allegations by APNU+AFC
In last week’s article, we listed three allegations made by the APNU+AFC in relation to the recount exercise. Two of these were found to be without merit while the third – between 15 to 20 votes were from persons who had died or migrated – could not have been uncovered during the recount exercise.
After five days into the recount, the APNU+AFC made further allegations of what it described as ‘clear and unmistakable patterns of irregularities, discrepancies and worse’. These allegations include ‘countless’ instances of:
(a) Dead persons recorded as voting exclusively in PPP strongholds;
(b) Persons who have long migrated from Guyana and who were not in Guyana on Elections Day shown as having voted;
(c) Persons who did not uplift their ID cards from GECOM for many years recorded as voting in PPP stronghold areas but with no corresponding Oaths of Identity found in the ballot boxes;
(d) Unsigned Oaths of Identity found in PPP stronghold areas;
(e) Votes for other parties recorded for the PPP;
(f) Missing poll books; and
(g) Ballots clearly cast for the APNU+AFC Coalition deemed as spoilt.
However, no evidence was produced nor were figures quoted to substantiate the above allegations. As regards allegations (a) and (b), it is unclear how they have been arrived at, since they relate to what happened on Elections Day, and not during the recount exercise. That apart, all the international and local observers as well as the President have considered the elections to free, fair and orderly, and there was no mention of any of these alleged irregularities. In addition, persons voting had to provide some form of identification, such as ID cards, passports or sworn affidavits, to at least three points in the polling stations, and their identities had to be confirmed with the information on GECOM database. All of this was done in the presence of the observers and representatives of the political parties, including APNU+AFC.
In relation to item (c), the use of passports might have explained the absence of sworn affidavits. The remaining items are more relevant to recount that is under way, and it is for the Commission to carry out its own investigation to determine the truth or otherwise of these allegations and assess to what extent they are likely to have a material effect on the overall results.
Refusal of the return of the Carter Center
The Carter Center was refused entry into Guyana on 4 May 2020 on the ground that the country’s borders have been closed as a result of the coronavirus. This is notwithstanding that special flights were approved for not only oil company officials but also the CARICOM high-level observer team. On 6 May 2020, on behalf of the President, the Foreign Minister responded to a letter from the U.S. Ambassador in Guyana appealing to the President for the Center to be allowed in the country to observe the recount. The relevant sections of the letter read as follows:
The public health situation in Guyana has changed drastically since the Regional and General elections held on March 2, as you are aware. The Government published an extraordinary issue of the Official Gazette on 16th March and promulgated COVID-19 emergency measures on 3rd April which included the imposition of curfew states, inter alia:
The Cheddi Jagan International and Eugene F. Correia International Airports shall remain closed to all international flights expect for outgoing flights, cargo flights, medical evacuation flights, technical stops for fuels only and special authorised flights. The Government of Guyana requests that its measures to protect its citizens from the disease are respected.
Meanwhile, six congressmen from the United States issued a statement in which they called for the return of the Center, reiterating their bipartisan commitment to supporting a fully transparent election process that reflects the will of the Guyanese people. Accordingly, they urged the Government to allow the observation teams from the Carter Center and the International Republican Institute to join the CARICOM team. They further stated that they ‘remain dedicated to ensuring that the Guyanese people are free to exercise their right to vote, that their votes are counted accurately, and that they are able to shape a democratic and prosperous future for their country’.
According to the Director of the Office of Caribbean Affairs at the U.S. State Department, the United States has no preference in the electoral outcome, except that it must represent the views of the Guyanese people. She further stated that:
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.
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.
The latest development is that Government for a third time has denied the Carter Center’s request, contending that ‘the Caribbean Community remains the most legitimate interlocutors in the Guyana situation and that Guyana is equally confident in the legitimacy, credibility and competence of the CARICOM team to perform its task’.
Absence of T&T representation
The CARICOM team does not include a representative from Trinidad and Tobago. The Prime Minister of that country explained that this was because the Guyana courts had ruled that the team’s involvement was in violation of the country’s election laws. He stated that his country’s Chief Elections Officer ought not to be placed in a situation where accusations are made, adding that ‘we want to preserve our pristine position in these matters of the conduct of free and fair elections’. The Prime Minister asserted that:
None of us in this government or in the PNM is invested in any way in Guyana. We have no horse in Guyana; except that we want the best for the people of Guyana and we want to see them solve their problems as quickly as possible, so that the results of an election could be concluded and that Guyana could continue to maintain its high standing in CARICOM.
Recount observation reports
In a letter to GECOM Chair, the Private Sector Commission (PSC) raised concerns over the Commission’s decision to broadcast the contents of the recount observation reports which contain unverified allegations of irregularities without GECOM first investigating the merits or otherwise of such allegations. The PSC’s statement echoes similar concerns expressed by most of the political parties contesting the elections. A government-nominated commissioner, however, asserted that this was done in the interest of transparency while indicating that staff have been instructed to ensure a statement that the allegations are yet to be verified, is included in the report. The Commission is split on what action needs to be taken in relation to these allegations.
Briefing by the head of the OAS observer mission
Last Wednesday, the head of the OAS observer mission, former Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding, reported to the OAS Permanent Council on the mission’s preliminary observations of the elections and what transpired subsequently. He stated that the recount currently under way has shown clear examples of inflating APNU+AFC votes for Region 4 and reducing those for the PPP/C, as follows:
The former Prime Minister stated that the electoral process on Elections Day went smoothly. However, problems arose only during the tabulation of Region 4 SOPs when there were repeated interruptions due to the unavailability of electoral workers as well as disruptions because the numbers presented on a spreadsheet of ‘unknown origin’ did not match those in possession of party agents. He also referred to the RO’s declaration for Region 4 bearing the signature of the Chair of the PNCR which he considered a significant issue.
Mr. Golding summed up his observations as follows:
I have never seen a more transparent effort to alter the results of an election. You know, it takes an extraordinarily courageous mind to present fictitious numbers when such a sturdy paper trail exists. This is being illustrated now at the recount.
Status of the recount
As of last Saturday (Day 11), a total of 528 out of 2339 ballot boxes, or 22.6 percent, were open and counted. This gives an average daily count of 48 boxes. At this rate, it will take 49 days for the exercise to be completed, putting the estimated completion date for the recount to 24 June. GECOM has decided to increase the number of workstations from ten to sixteen in order to expedite the recount but at the time of writing it was still awaiting approval from the COVID-19 Task Force.
So far, except for minor discrepancies, the recount as shown in the Statements of Recount (SOR) matches the SOPs that have been prepared at the close of polls and posted at the various polling stations.
