With the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) nearing the end of the recount of votes cast at the March 2nd polls, President David Granger yesterday said irregularities reported by the APNU+AFC pointed to a deliberate manipulation of the electoral process even as he reiterated that he would abide by the final declarations of the elections body.
Granger made the pronouncements in an address to the nation, where he urged that citizens await the full completion of the recount process, comprising the counting, reporting by the Chief Election Officer and the CARICOM observers, a review by GECOM and the declaration of the final results by the GECOM Chairperson Claudette Singh.
“Everyone is aware of numerous reports of irregularities including un-stamped ballots, deceased and migrant voters and missing poll books. Those irregularities appear to have been committed intentionally, not accidentally, and demonstrate a pattern of manipulation of the electoral process,” Granger said during his address, which was made on the heels of recent calls for the contesting parties to respect the outcome of the recount process.
He noted that the “legitimate, transparent, post-elections process” is expected to eventuate in an acceptable outcome through four sequential stages. The process has begun with the recount of ballots cast at the elections, which began on May 6. He said thereafter there is to be a report of the recount, which is the second stage of the process, which is to be compiled by the Chief Election Officer. It was at this stage that he adverted to the “numerous reports of irregularities,” which was a reference to the numerous allegations made by the coalition during the recounting process. These have been dismissed as baseless by the main opposition and other contestants in the polls, who have said that no evidence was provided to substantiate the claims.
Granger said the Chief Election Officer is obliged to present a matrix of the poll results of each electoral district together with a summary of the ‘Observation Reports’ of each electoral district to the Commission.
“It is expected that, given the exceptional interest of the CARICOM Heads of Government and the extraordinary exertions of the CARICOM scrutinizing team, their ‘report’ which will be sent to the Election Commission, will receive the fullest consideration,” he further added in reference to CARICOM observers currently here for the process.
Granger said the review of the report by the Elections Commissioners, which is the third stage of the process, will follow. “The Commissioners will be expected to take into consideration all the evidence provided in the CEO’s ‘report’, both from the tabulation and observation, in their deliberations. It is expected, also, that the Election Commission will examine the CARICOM report at this stage,” he noted.
The fourth and final stage of the process, the president said, is the declaration of the result of the polls by the GECOM Chair after she has studied the report of the Chief Election Officer and the observation reports.
Granger said he had committed on April 30th to accepting the declaration of the results by the Elections Commission, which will allow for a democratically elected government to be sworn-in to office.
“I am committed to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law. I respect the integrity and autonomous nature of the Elections Commission. I will abide by the declarations of the Elections Com-mission as I have abided by the rulings of the Court,” he said, before commending Singh for diligence and persistence and admirably performing her duties under the Constitution. “She demonstrated her respect for the rulings of the Court and has facilitated CARICOM’s observation role in the recount process in order to assure every one of the credibility of the elections,” he added.
Granger encouraged everyone to respect Singh and other members of the Commission and to “desist from scurrility, vulgarity and character assassination.” “The Commission must be allowed to perform its functions in accordance with the Constitution,” he added, while encouraging all to await the completion of the four stages of the recount process.
In its final report on the polls, which was released on Friday, the European Union Election Observer Mission (EU EOM) has said that the integrity of the entire electoral process was “seriously compromised” by the initial non-transparent tabulation of results in Region Four, for which it blamed senior Guyana Elections Com-mission (GECOM) officials.
“…the integrity of the entire electoral process was seriously compromised by the non-transparent and non-credible tabulation of results in the largest and decisive Region 4 by senior Guyana Elec-tions Commission officials, acting in blatant violation of the law and High Court orders issued in this regard,” the report, which was presented to Singh on Friday, found.
The controversy over the Region Four tabulation led to the recount process.
The EU EOM report also concluded that GECOM abdicated its constitutional duty by failing to act decisively after the Region Four Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo declared results without having tabulated them in the presence of party agents and observers as required by law. “By failing to act decisively, GECOM abdicated its constitutional duty to take all actions necessary to ensure compliance with the law and oversee a proper tabulation process,” it said, while noting that it possessed unequivocal powers to remove and exercise disciplinary control over them.
The report said that after these results were annulled by the Chief Justice as unlawful, “GECOM still allowed the same RO to rush through the rest of the tabulation without any transparency in blatant violation of the law and explicit court orders, and to make a second declaration of unverified results on 13 March.”
The EU EOM said that with confidence in GECOM already undermined by limited inclusiveness and transparency, post-election developments “exposed a dysfunctional commission unable to control its own secretariat.”
