The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) says that efforts are being made for a Commission of Inquiry into what occurred during the March 2020 electoral process which sparked a five-month delay in the declaration of the final result.
President Irfaan Ali had promised such a commission in his inauguration speech on August 8 last year. It is yet to materialise.
In a release on March 1st to mark the first anniversary of the March 2nd 2020 general and regional elections, the governing party condemned the “conspiracy to steal the elections”, and said that the then incumbent APNU/AFC “miscalculated the power of the people”.
The release stated that the party was thankful to “the broad based democratic forces and new and young pro-democracy voices”; the party also recognized both international and regional support as contributory to the resolution of the election’s impasse.
The release highlighted efforts to ensure that there is no recurrence of such an effort to rig the elections:
• A Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into what took place during the March 2020 electoral process, which will be staffed by independent professionals from the international community;
• Prosecution of those who committed election offences
• A return of professionalism to GECOM, to repair the damaged public trust and confidence in the Commission; and
• Efforts to amend the Representation of the People Act to: ensure transparency; clear methodology on how counting ballots are to proceed – including the publication of all Statements of Polls (SOPs) in the newspapers and the official gazette; and penalties for election fraud, among other issues.
According to the release, work is also ongoing to heal hurts and bridge divisions that were created and exacerbated during the five months leading to August 2, 2020. One such is the One Guyana Commission that is tasked with taking practical steps to cement Guyana’s one society, encompassing and respecting the diversity from which our “oneness” springs.
