Dear Editor,
I write regarding the editorial captioned “Safeguards against elections skullduggery” (Stabroek News, August 12, 2024) on the AFC’s questions of GECOM on the bloated Voters List and the use of biometrics for voter identification.
I commend the editor for being forthright in stating “Both the AFC and GECOM said a mouthful but neither addressed the nub of the problems on March 2nd 2020: the corruption of the entire election process by a handful of officials in the heart of the secretariat of the elections commission. The five-month impasse that delayed the transition in governments had nothing at all to do with a bloated list of voters or malpractices at polling stations. It was all about a rearguard effort hatched at the Kingston offices of GECOM and unleashed at the Ashmins Building where the District Four Returning Officer was accommodated”.
As one reads the above excerpt, it is worthwhile to be reminded of the editorial “Elections being rigged” (Stabroek News March 6, 2020), i.e. a mere four days after the elections, which noted “When all of the bewildering events of yesterday at the office of the Region Four Returning Officer are taken into account, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that GECOM and its staffers are working in the interest of APNU+AFC and rigging the 2020 general elections right before our eyes”. In addition, the European Union Election Observation Mission Final Report provides further support, noting “Voting, counting and the tabulation of results in nine of Guyana’s ten regions were generally well managed. However, 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 Elections Commis-sion officials, acting in blatant violation of the law and High Court orders issued in this regard”.
Likewise, the findings in the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the General and Regional Elections of Guyana on March 2, 2020 are noteworthy: “Senior GECOM officials abandoned all need for neutrality and impartiality and demonstrated a bias for a competing political party and, in the course of events over those days, showed an open connection with that party and, by their efforts, sought a desired result for that party.…CEO Mr. Keith Lowenfield, DCEO Ms. Roxanne Myers and RO Mr. Clairmont Mingo were principally responsible for clear and deliberate attempts to frustrate, obstruct and subvert the ascertainment of votes in electoral district No. 4.”
With reference to the voting and voter verification on election day 2020, a clip of a videotape presented at the Commission of Inquiry into the elections shows the Head of the OAS team of observers, Mr. Bruce Golding, former Prime Minister of Jamaica, stating “I have never seen a more transparent effort”. Another clip shows the European Union Ambassador, Mr. Fernando, who was also an election observer, explaining the process of checking voter identity at polling stations and stating “It was safeguard after safeguard after safeguard. It was impossible to cheat…I was positively impressed”.
The editorial rightly concludes “…. it is worth repeating that the vast majority of the hundreds of polling day workers on March 2nd 2020 worked industriously and heroically to enable voters to cast their ballots, for these to be counted, results posted up outside polling stations and the relevant documents transmitted to the district returning officers. That system functioned marvelously and does not require biometrics or cameras to create grounds for upheaval”.
Sincerely,
Harry Hergash
