Amid continuing concerns about the electoral crisis in Guyana, Organisation of American States (OAS) Secretary General Luis Almagro is seeking a meeting of the Permanent Council of the body on the situation here.
Almagro has written to Chair of the Permanent Council, Luis Fernando Cordero Montoya seeking support to call a meeting of the Permanent Council “to deal with the situation of the electoral process in Guyana”.
The OAS has paid close attention to the process here and issued numerous statements calling for adherence to the recount results and expressing concern about partisan electoral officers.
The Head of the OAS observer mission to the March 2nd general elections, Bruce Golding had reported to the Permanent Council in May about the electoral fraud committed in the elections by District Four Returning Officer.
The process has been plunged into further crisis by the defiance of the Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield.
In its latest statement on July 11, the OAS repudiated the recent report by Lowenfield which fabricated a `win’ for the incumbent APNU+AFC and it warned that in the coming days a report will be issued to the body’s Permanent Council on this and other matters.
The OAS said that a new election is also unacceptable and the only way forward would be the use of the results of the internationally-observed recount.
The statement said: “The Organiza-tion of American States (OAS) notes that the Chief Election Officer of Guyana, in direct opposition to the instructions of the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission, has submitted a final report which includes data compiled prior to the national recount; data which had already been deemed to be questionable.
“There can be no justification for this action. As intimated in our statement of July 10, this confirms that the Chief Election Officer is acting in bad faith and contrary to the interest of democracy in Guyana.
“Let us be very clear – the only democratic solution for Guyana at this time is respect for the results of the national recount. No other figures – neither those prepared prior to the recount, nor those recently invalidated by the Caribbean Court of Justice, nor any others that may be unilaterally devised by the Chief Election Officer – can have any place in the final determination of results. A new electoral process is also an unacceptable solution.”
