APNU/AFC continues to insult Guyanese intelligence – FITUG

As local and international organisations continue to pay keen attention to the current recount of votes from the March 2 polls, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) has called out the APNU/AFC for their continued attempts to discredit the process.
FITUG on Monday said that reports suggest that the process has been progressing smoothly but on the slower side. However, it went on to highlight attempts by the caretaker Government to ‘cast doubt’ on the process now, despite stating that it was free and fair.
“While we are pleased, somewhat, with those developments, we are simply aghast to see the unvarnished attempts by officials of the coalition to sought to bring the process into disrepute. We recall previously that the coalition had conveyed that voting proceeded without any hitch or controversy. Similar sentiments also came from the various parties and local and international observers. It, therefore, now is confounding that we see officials of the Administration seeking to cast doubts on a process that President David Granger a few days ago said it was free and fair,” the statement noted.
It went on to list these accusations coming from the coalition, which recently claimed that deceased persons and Guyanese who have migrated would’ve exercised their franchise on Election Day. However, FITUG labelled the stir as ‘feeble’ attempts on the Administration’s part, positioning that persons who migrated are still listed on the Official List of Electors and are eligible to vote.
“We see the coalition’s accusations as nothing more than futile and feeble attempt as an act of unadulterated desperation. For those who are familiar with the electoral process, it is a most robust system which has several built-in safeguards. The system, of course, evolved out of the dark period of rigged elections. The entire spectrum of finger-pointing brings indeed into great question of role of the coalition’s agents on Elections Day.”
Questions were raised as to why these issues were not brought up initially, as the Government claimed they were heavily guarding all activities. This, the Federation said, does not add up.
FITUG expressed, “Certainly, one would have thought they [would] have looked at the process with an eagle eye and would have caught these ‘issues’ as they arose. It also begs the question, that the coalition having knowledge of such ‘issues’ never prior to the recount sought to make them known, publicly at least. Or why it was willing to benefit from a process which tilted the votes in its favour yet, at the same time, apparently worked against it. They simply do not add up, lack logic or even coherence.”
As such, Guyanese were cautioned not to get sidetracked by attempts to ‘hijack the process’. The organisation said this election process has been hinged on many issues which later arose, the most recent which “descended into an audit of the elections”.
“The continued ploys being deployed by the coalition are nothing more than an insult to the collective intelligence of all Guyanese. We are not as asinine as the coalition wants to think.”