The Head of the OAS election observer mission to Guyana, Bruce Golding says that the big question now is whether the incumbent government will accept the ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on Wednesday throwing out a Court of Appeal decision which inspired the Chief Election Officer (CEO) to slash over 115,000 votes.
Golding, a former Prime Minister of Jamaica, said that thus far the behaviour of the APNU+AFC government raises serious doubt.
In an interview with Jamaica’s Nationwide Radio on Wednesday after the CCJ handed down the decision, Golding said “It is now left for the Elections Commission in Guyana to declare officially the result of the elections based on the recount and for those who are claiming massive fraud to pursue that matter if they so choose through the established legal process which is through an election petition.
“The big question of course is whether the incumbent government is going to recognise and respect and accept the decision of the CCJ. The behaviour of the functionaries of the government up to now raises serious doubt”.
He welcomed the CCJ decision as “excellent”.
Golding has spoken out forthrightly against the rigging of elections here and this has attracted criticism from APNU+AFC officials notably Joseph Harmon and supporters of the coalition. Golding in an appearance before the Organisation of American States (OAS) Permanent Council in May detailed evidence of the fraud committed by District Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo.
“I have never seen a more transparent effort to alter the results of an election,” Golding said as he put aside his prepared statement, which was heard by a number of ambassadors to the OAS, including Guyana’s Riyad Insanally.
Golding pointed out that more than a dozen copies of statements of poll are prepared at each polling station after the ballots are counted on elections night. Following this, he said, one copy is posted on the wall outside of the polling station and each party representative is entitled to a copy.
“You know it takes an extraordinarily courageous mind [he gave a hint of a laugh as he said those two words] to present fictitious numbers when such a sturdy paper trail exists,” he asserted.
The National Recount which was underway at the time of this presentation has since proven Golding’s observations to be accurate.
Golding has issued several statements on the process here in his capacity as head of the OAS observer mission.
On April 15th, he expressed concern that an accurate result had not been determined six weeks on and said this was crucial to restoring Guyana’s position as an “internationally respected democracy”.
Golding, whose OAS observer team withdrew from Guyana in protest over the fictitious numbers for District Four that had been produced by Mingo, also lambasted the timeframe that had been presented then by CEO Keith Lowenfield for a recount of the votes.
“The proposal by the Chief Election Officer that would have required five months to recount less than 500,000 ballots is unheard of in any democracy and would be unacceptable under any circumstances”, Golding declared.
