APNU/AFC abused State resources to campaign – EU observers

Elections 2020

The European Union (EU) Elections Observer Mission to Guyana for its 2020 General and Regional Elections is accusing the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance (APNU/AFC) Government of abusing State resources in order to campaign against its political opponents in the lead-up to Monday’s vote.
The observation was made public on Wednesday, when Mission Head Umras Paet briefed media operatives at the Marriott Hotel and said, “APNU/AFC used the advantages of incumbency to appeal to voters through development programmes”.
He said too, “the Mission saw governmental donations provided in the context of APNU/AFC campaign events, in particular in Region Nine”.

Paet told members of the local and international media that “in-kind vote-buying in Indigenous communities was a widely reported practice” of Government.
He said the observations “indicated a common misuse of State resources for the campaign” and that APNU/AFC “used the advantages of incumbency to appeal to voters through infrastructure developments which undermined a levelled playing field”.
Paet reported too that observers saw governmental donations provided in the context of APNU/AFC campaigns, especially in locations where voters were primarily of an Indigenous population.
The EU group cited as an example that Head of State, President David Granger, was observed delivering Governmental donations during the APNU/AFC rally in Sand Creek on February 15.
It was noted too that “several APNU/AFC ministers actively campaigned using State resources in their capacity as ministers”.
This addition to the practice of in-kind vote-buying involved using items such as food and other goods, particularly in Indigenous communities.
With regards the media, the Mission reported that State-owned broadcast and print media are not independent of political influence, “as both their chairpersons and boards are appointed by the minister and have been historically reflecting the views of the Government”.
According to Paet, “the State-owned broadcast media, which benefit from the widest reach in the country showed an overt bias in favour of the Government and ruling coalition”.
The mission documented also that the State-owned television Channel 11, devoted 60 per cent of its news coverage to the Government and President and 25 per cent to the APNU/AFC.
Additionally, “clearly misusing State resources, the Department of Public Information, a governmental agency was extensively used to promote coalition campaign activities”.
This was done “for instance, through articles and videos published on its website and Facebook page, as well as via free publications distributed at a regional level”.
It was observed too that the State-owned newspaper, Guyana Chronicle, provided extensive coverage of the incumbent President, Government and the ruling coalition, also “offering considerable space to letters from readers critical towards PPP/C (People’s Progressive Party/ Civic)”.