A huge section of the Milne Ice Shelf, the last of Canada’s intact ice shelves located on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, has collapsed into the Arctic Ocean, creating an “ice island” about 30 square miles in size, larger than that of the area of Manhattan. The shelf has now been reduced to 43 percent of its original size. Experts attribute this to global warming and climate change which of recent have seen a rise in temperature in the Arctic Region to twice that for the rest of the planet. In fact, one area in Siberia recorded a temperature of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The main contributory factor for global temperature rise is the extraction and burning of fossil fuels that release heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases into the atmosphere. CO2 concentration last month has reached the record level of 414.38 parts per million.
On the corruption front, we reported in last week that former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was convicted and sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment for abuse of power, money laundering and breach of trust. Last Thursday, another high-ranking Malaysian official, former Minister of Finance Lim Guan Eng, was arrested for allegations of corruption involving a $1.5 billion undersea tunnel project which he led as Chief Minister prior to becoming Minister of Finance.
The 21 December 2018 vote of no confidence in the then government required elections to be held by 21 March 2019. However, this was not to be, for a variety of reasons, though largely without merit. These include:
Resort to the courts to overturn the Speaker of the National Assembly’s ruling that the motion was carried since 33 Members of Parliament voted in favour of the motion in a 65-member Assembly. The matter went all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). It was a most embarrassing moment for Guyana for the CCJ to interpret what constitutes ‘a majority of all the elected members of the National Assembly’;
Unilateral appointment of Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson as the Chairman of GECOM which the court considered unconstitutional;
Alleged lack of readiness by GECOM to hold elections, despite the fact that it had successfully run off the Local Government elections just months earlier;
Embarking on house-to-house registration of voters on the ground that the list of voters was inflated by more than 200,000 names. The court ruled that the exercise was invalid. As a result, it had to be aborted; and
Undue delay in the appointment of a new GECOM Chair despite the submission of the list of six candidates on three separate occasions only to be rejected by the then President.
It was not until 30 December 2019 that Parliament was dissolved thereby paving the way for elections to be held 2 March 2020. Even then, it took another five months before the results were officially declared.
During the period from the passing of the no confidence vote to just prior to the final declaration of the results on 2 August 2020, we have been providing weekly updates on developments, except for a two-month break. Today’s article is a culmination of the series of articles we had carried on the subject.
Recap of events leading to the declaration
On Election Day, voting began and ended smoothly in various parts of the country, and no issues were raised. The following day, GECOM Chair declared the elections free and fair. The diplomatic missions of the United States, the UK and the EU as well as the local and international observers were also in high praise for peaceful atmosphere on polling day. Within a day or two of the elections, the results were out, showing that the PPP/C clearly won the elections, as evidenced by copies of the Statements of Poll (SOPs) which the party released to the public. However, the APNU+AFC also claimed victory but refused to release copies of their SOPs. GECOM, for its part, declined to do so in respect of copies of the SOPs in their possession.
The tabulation of the results for all the ten Regions in the presence of local and international observers as well as party agents, also went well, and no issues were identified. However, as regards Region 4, the Returning Officer (RO) disregarded the requirements of the law during the tabulation, and introduced a spreadsheet of unknown origin with figures that did not match those shown in the SOPs. It was a deliberate attempt to tamper with the results to show that the APNU+AFC won the elections. This action resulted in protests by the political parties participating in the elections, except the APNU+AFC, and condemnation by the diplomatic community in Guyana as well as the international observers that the tabulation for Region 4 lacked transparency and credibility. On 13 March 2020, the Chief Election Officer (CEO) submitted his report to the Commission, which report included the tampered declaration by the RO of Region 4.
Amid concerns from the international community that the will of the electorate was being thwarted, the intervention of the then Chair of CARICOM, Mia Mottley, saw an agreement between the then President and the then Opposition Leader for a recount of all the votes cast. As soon as the GECOM Chair issued the related Order for the recount, an APNU+AFC supporter filed an application with the court challenging the legality and constitutionality of the Order. This matter also went to the Court of Apeal which ruled that the Order was valid. A CARICOM Scrutinising Team then arrived in the country to oversee the recount which took over a month to complete.
From the very beginning of the recount, APNU+AFC representatives started to raise several allegations of irregularities that took place on Election Day, including persons who were not present in the country on Election Day were shown as having voted; deceased persons voting; and ballots of the disciplined forces not counted. However, none of these were drawn to attention on polling day and during the vote count, although the APNU+AFC representatives were present at all the polling stations.
It was a clear attempt to discredit the recount exercise and the results which the CARICOM Scrutinising Team considered as having represented the will of the people. APNU+AFC’s hope was that GECOM would revert to the 13 March declarations by the ROs which included the tampered results for Region 4. GECOM had decided to hold these declarations in abeyance, pending the outcome of the recount exercise. Needless to mention, most of the allegations made remained largely unjustified. If there was a query in relation to one vote in a ballot box containing, say 300 votes, the CEO took the position that the entire 300 votes lacked credibility and should not be counted! In this way, the CEO, in his second report to the Commission, discarded some 60 percent of the votes cast to give the APNU+AFC victory over the PPP/C. Following the court ruling on the validity of the recount Order, the CEO submitted a second report based on the recount. This time, he discarded some 25 percent of the votes cast to show for a third time an APNU+AFC victory.
The court having ruled that the recount Order was valid, the GECOM Chair discarded the first report of the CEO that was held in abeyance, and instructed the CEO to submit his report based on the recount exercise. The CEO refused to do so and instead produced a fourth report that included the tampered results for Region 4. The Court of Appeal ruled that, as an employee of GECOM, he is subject to the direction and control of the Commission and must therefore follow the instructions of the Commission. The CEO eventually complied with the Chair’s instruction although he continued to claim that there were irregularities on polling day.
A last-minute effort was made by the Government-nominated commissioners for the then President to meet with the then Opposition Leader to discuss the way forward in the light of the latest court ruling and in the hope that the two leaders would agree to hold fresh elections or to some form of shared governance. The latter, however, made it clear that the declaration must first be made. GECOM therefore had no other option than to make the declaration based on the recount.
Declaration of the results
On Sunday, 2 August, the GECOM Chair declared PPP/C presidential candidate Dr. Irfaan Ali the 9th Executive President of Guyana. The Chair had also written to the Chancellor of the Judiciary almost immediately advising her of the declaration and requesting her to arrange for the swearing in of the new President. Earlier in the day, the three government-nominated commissioners walked out of the meeting, contending that they wanted to distance themselves ‘from any Declaration other than a non-declaration and fresh elections’.
Later in the day, Dr. Ali was sworn in as President. Also taking the oath of office were Prime Minister Mark Phillips, Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo, Attorney General Anil Nandlall and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Gail Teixeira. Last Tuesday, 19 other Ministers were sworn in. On Saturday, an inauguration ceremony was held at the National Cultural Centre.
Conclusion
Guyana’s democracy has weathered the storm, and the will of the people has prevailed. As stated previously, denying the people their right to elect a government of their choice is a serious human rights violation. It is hoped that those who were involved, directly or otherwise, will be made to account for their actions.
Had it not been for the efforts of the ABCE diplomatic missions in Guyana, CARICOM and the broader international community in defence of democracy in Guyana, an illegitimate government would have been installed since last March. To the extent that this was prevented from happening, we owe a sincere debt of gratitude to all who have contributed in one way or another. We wish the new Government well.
