Democracy activists petition Caricom to ensure observers remain to end of recount

…appeal for more scrutineers

As the national election recount of votes cast on March 2 continues and will not be completed within the given 25-day deadline, the International Center for Democracy (ICD) has sent appeals to the Caribbean Community (Caricom), to ensure that its team remains until the process is completed.

The three-member Caricom team arrived in Guyana shortly before the recount started to observe and scrutinise the process.
On Friday, the ICD also petitioned Caricom to deploy additional personnel to oversee the recount.
“Virtually

impossible for the three observers…to cover twelve workstations; and more importantly, provide the oversight needed to ensure that the Region 4 recount is not interrupted or tampered with,” the IDC said in its appeal to Caricom.
The ICD contended that a majority of the Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) ballots, which was at the centre of the anomalies, would be left for the end of the recount. This intensifies the need to have these persons present.
It noted that with 12 workstations and an average of 72 boxes being completed daily, this recount process will not be completed until the second week of June at the earliest. More troubling for the ICD is the fact that Region Four, which was “the most contentious in the fraudulent tabulation is deliberately being drawn out by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), leaving the majority of Region 4 boxes to be counted towards the end of the process. The ICD is formally requesting that Caricom do not withdraw the observers from their mission to Guyana. In addition, the ICD is requesting that Caricom assign additional observers to oversee the recount.”
In fact, the democracy activists shared the view that the GECOM Secretariat and employees under its purview “will not demonstrate impartiality to ensure a fair recount of the Region Four results.”
“The ICD shares the same sentiments of most Guyanese and competing political parties that GECOM and its staff will not be impartial in completing the Region Four recount in  a free, fair and transparent manner and most important that GECOM, as a whole, is being compromised and being significantly influenced by current APNU representatives.”
This, it said, was cemented by the Head of State’s refusal to allow the democracy watchdog – The Carter Center – observer mission in Guyana, after several requests.
Caricom’s Chair, Mia Mottley was dubbed as ‘Guyana’s last hope’ to return democracy to the nation and facilitate a clean recount.
“The ICD along with all concerned Guyanese is confident and believe that with additional Caricom observers in the final weeks of the recount, the recount process will be completed in a free, fair and transparent manner and that the will and wishes of all Guyanese will come through which is to have a democratically elected  President and Government of their choice.”
The Carter Center has been denied entry into Guyana by caretaker President David Granger on the grounds of COVID-19 restrictions. However, this is despite other persons – including ExxonMobil workers – being allowed entry into the country.
Earlier this week, GECOM’s Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward claimed that the return of the US-based democracy watchdog is outside the remit of the Secretariat and is solely within the Executive – that is caretaker President David Granger.
She also emphasised that “it is not for GECOM to do advocacy on that part, because it steps outside the parameters of the Commission.”