Declaration based on recount results must be made without delay – Mandela’s The Elders

International pressure continues to mount for Guyana to declare the results of the March 2 elections, with Nelson Mandela’s The Elders Group now joining calls for the figures emanating from the national recount process to be used as the basis for the declaration.
In a social media post on Friday, The Elders Group pointed out that it is nearly four months since Guyana’s elections have been held, and results are yet to be declared.
To this end, the Group called for the will of the Guyanese people, which was expressed at the March 2 polls and subsequently certified during the National Recount, to be respected.
“The will of the people, expressed in the elections and confirmed in the recount, must be respected. An electoral declaration based on the recount should be made without delay,” The Elders tweeted.
The 34-day recount exercise shows a landslide victory for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), with a lead of more than 15,000 votes over its main political rival, the caretaker A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Coalition, which has since challenged the results.
Last week, after GECOM had decided to go ahead with the declaration of the elections based on the recount results, the APNU/AFC, through its supporter Eslyn David, approached the Court of Appeal.
Now the Appeal Court’s ruling that “more votes cast” means “more valid votes cast” is being challenged at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) by the PPP/C, which has contended that the Court’s pronouncements have “plunged the law in total confusion, and it is now no longer clear how an election of members of the National Assembly is to be challenged and how the election of the President can be challenged.”
That matter has been fixed for hearing on Wednesday, July 1, 2020.
The Elders is an international non-governmental organisation of public figures noted as elder statesmen, peace activists, and human rights advocates, who were brought together by Nelson Mandela in 2007. They describe themselves as “independent global leaders working together for peace and human rights”.
This is not the first time the Group has spoken out on Guyana’s protracted elections. In two previous statements, the recent being earlier this month, the organisation called for the rule of law to be respected, and for the will of the Guyanese people to determine the country’s future.
“The will of the people must be respected through the swearing in of a legitimate Government based on the recount’s results,” The Elders had stated in a tweet on June 2.
However, the Group’s recent statement on Friday comes on the heels of mounting international pressure for a declaration to be made based on the certified results from the recount exercise.
Among those from the international community that have spoken out this week are: the Organization of American States (OAS), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Kingdom of Norway, high-profile United States (US) officials, and the ABCE diplomatic community – those are, the Heads of the United States, British, Canadian and the European Union (EU) missions in Guyana.