GCCI calls for stakeholders to remain calm and allow the democratic processes to unfold
The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has welcomed the appointment of a “high-level” team from Caricom to supervise the recount of ballots cast in the March 2 Regional and General Elections.
The independent high-level mission (from left): Angela Taylor, Chief Electoral Officer, Barbados; Anthony Boatswain, former Finance Minister, Grenada; Francine Baron, Chair of the team and former Attorney General and Foreign Minister, Dominica; Fern Nacis-Scope, Chief Elections Officer, Trinidad and Tobago and Cynthia Barrow-Giles, Senior Lecturer, Department of Government, UWI
The team is headed by Dominican former Attorney General and Foreign Affairs Minister, Francine Baron, and includes Anthony Boatswain, former Minister of Finance of Grenada, and Cynthia Barrow-Giles, Senior Lecturer in Department of Government of UWI.
In a missive issued by GCCI, it stated that the body acknowledges the consensus between President David Granger and Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo on the thrust for a recount of all of the ballots cast in the 10 Electoral Districts for the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.
“The GCCI has taken note that some members of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) seem to be opposed to the recount in the first instance, and the involvement of the above mentioned “high-level” team. In this regard, the GCCI take this opportunity to note its fullest support for the total recount of the votes as agreed by President Granger and Jagdeo, under comprehensive oversight of the “high-level” team. The GCCI is convinced that this deliberate course of action will remove all doubts about the outcomes of the elections as a consequence of which Guyana can return to normalcy,” the release stated.
As such, in the view of the foregoing, the GCCI calls upon all concerned, but more specifically, GECOM and the contesting political parties to move with alacrity towards putting all of the requirements in place to facilitate the intended recounts in a most efficient manner as prescribed by the extant laws and with all possible checks and balances in place towards the achievement of common acceptability of the outcome of the recounts.
In the meantime, the GCCI urges all stakeholders, especially the constituents of the political parties, to remain calm and allow the democratic processes to unfold. Guyana deserves nothing less.
