Emerged turbulence in national elections demands new approach for global recognition

Dear Editor,
The emerged turbulence in several national country elections demands a new approach for global recognition.
Here at home, the truth is under attack by a few persistent PNC-hopefuls who still glorify the glaring, inept and flagrant attempts of their colleagues to hijack the true results of the Guyana 2020 General and Regional Elections. The lead orchestrators in this regard continue to tug a string around the necks of those caught-up supporters who are blinded by their duplicitous propagandistic diatribes.
Perhaps it is their only hope of holding on to a few in a futile effort to shield their nakedness.
It is known that some of the key players who acted in a cohort with the shameless PNC operatives were radically exposed by contesting parties jointly with the international community. These dishonest perpetrators have now turned to social and other selective media platforms to deliver their own distorted and hypocritical sermons of devotion.
Significant, however, is the need to ensure all cracks in the abused electoral system are filled, and all such future violations MUST be prevented.
The serious, fraudulent attempts by the PNC, lead arm of APNU/AFC, have been to subvert and derail the electoral process, and this is not okay. Neither is it correct for Guyana to move forward with the same system and a slap on the hands of the same personnel in control of our elections machinery at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). Further, the difficulties that the world is witnessing with the Elections in the United States of America must open our eyes to a better system.
Editor, preparation for elections must be thorough and transparent. Following the ongoing investigations, which are no doubt justified by the rancour and intolerable behaviour of some GECOM staff, major overhauls must be undertaken in the interest of establishing an electoral system that would earn the confidence of the populace, and deliver free and fair results. We must never again be at the mercy or whims and fancies of one corrupt Chief Elections Officer and the many permutations of his shady practices.
The Chairperson should no longer delegate the central function of selection, employment, and balance of permanent and temporary staff to be employed by this key institution. The potential candidates must satisfy certain publicly advertised criteria, and be subjected to disqualification by the Commission on proof of breaches. It is the hope of many Guyanese that the imposition of sufficiently strong penalties following the ongoing investigations would serve to deter fraudulent actions and declarations by all persons submitting applications to, and working at, GECOM.
The process for finalisation of the list of voters must be acceptable to the contesting political parties and in keeping with the laws. Hence, systems must be put in place to make transparent these procedures. Elections Day staff must be credible, and any staff found guilty of malpractices must be appropriately sanctioned.
However, in countries where “rigging” is suspiciously common, the legal system must be amended and imposed such that anyone caught in wrongdoing is condignly dealt with as an example to the nation.
The social media platforms are filled with comments regarding the ongoing elections in the United States of America. Comparatively, however, there are not too many criticisms of the electoral staff. In Guyana, it is crystal clear that the senior staff in particular are indeed untrustworthy, while some others hired temporarily have displayed high levels of unprofessionalism. The CEO’s public admission of improprieties under his supervision leaves much to be desired, and questions his functional efficacy.
Here we witnessed the irresponsible and disrespectful behaviour of some political leaders, whose utterances served only to weaken public confidence and motivate political violence. Political leaders must not undermine public confidence in the democratic process. The false claims of dead voters and valid and legal votes must not be used to confuse the public. Granger claimed that he won the Elections, and then he was faced with the world calling on him to produce his statements of poll. Granger and his cohorts were caught blatantly trying to alter the elections’ results, and by extension steal the Government.
Here, at home, Mr. Granger deliberately interfered with the electoral process when he appointed Patterson as the Chairman of GECOM, which facilitated the wanton hiring and firing of staff. The PNC operatives were given a field day to hire and spend money as they wished. Going forward, these approaches have to be countered swiftly without holding the nation to ransom. There must also be the role of observers and diplomats towards authenticating the process relative to holding of free and fair elections.

Sincerely,
Neil Kumar