GECOM must divorce itself from the APNU/AFC

Dear Editor,
As Guyanese we expect our voices to be heard, our views to be respected, and our votes to be truly recounted.
After seeing what has unfolded during the present recount, as Guyanese voters, we continue to demand greater transparency in our elections recount which has been ongoing over the last seven days. With the system implemented for the recount, we have seen a direct attempt to derail the process and to impede or delay the count. Through this process, all the political parties have developed and proposed a template of characteristics that they believe were necessary for election results to be trusted.
Any free and fair election must minimally satisfy the following requirements, whereby each step of the election process should be easily understood and open to scrutiny by all stakeholders (voters, political parties, outside observers and most importantly the people of Guyana). All results should be independently verifiable and auditable.
The choices that every Guyanese voter made must remain private both during and after the elections. The integrity of the election must be preserved since only eligible voters were allowed to vote at the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections and those votes must be protected from any alteration or exclusion.
All eligible voters, regardless of location, group membership or disability, had a reasonable and equal opportunity to cast his or her vote which they all did overwhelmingly, it was Guyana Chronicle March 4, 2020 headlines – Elections was free and fair.
Why would the APNU/AFC openly try to disrespect GECOM’s regular and part-time staff and roll on their own APNU/AFC polling agents – over 2400 of them – who worked on E-day?
To now claim that dead or migrated persons voted on March 2, 2020, is simply absurd and disrespectful. All the opposition political parties are objecting and accusing APNU/AFC of trying slow down the recount process by bringing up allegations which they have no evidence to support. The APNU must desist from perpetuating this misrepresentation and making these false accusations, even when they know the truth. It is most unethical.
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is the entity that is responsible for the administration and conduct of elections in Guyana, established in May 2000 by virtue of the Constitution (Amendment) Act No 2 of 2000, which repealed and re-enacted Article 161 of the Constitution on the basis of recommendations emerging from the Constitution Reform Commission that were ratified by Parliament. Guyana’s independent Electoral body was put in place to ensure free and fair elections in Guyana, to oversee the conduct of the election. All stages of the of our electoral process were left entirely in the hands of GECOM without any interference from any quarter of the political divide.
This was necessary because, in every election, disputes may arise at any stage of the electoral process. There must, therefore, be an independent body that can adjudicate the disputes and come out with a ruling that can satisfy all parties involved.
After 20 years of existence, GECOM has neglected to live up to those simple obligations mandated by our Constitution. May 2020 must be the month and year that GECOM divorces itself from the APNU/AFC.
GECOM has a duty and an obligation to the people of Guyana and not any political party. The authoritarian caretaker regimes have done everything in their power to manipulate the electoral process to make sure that the election is rigged in favour of the APNU/AFC.
These outrageous electoral fraud and manipulation employed by this APNU/AFC authoritarian regime took a variety of forms. They were aimed at every step of the electoral process, ranging from altered voter registration lists, to disrupted campaigns, to rigged vote tabulations. Some were brazen while others were subtle. In the past five years, the APNU/AFC regime had become increasingly adept at keeping up the appearance of meeting democratic norms while subverting the integrity of the electoral process.
The growing sophistication of electoral fraud and manipulation has, however, been matched in 2020 by improvements in the skills and methods of elections safeguard. All the opposition political parties, domestic and international monitoring and observing organisations have been adopting a more comprehensive approach to Guyana’s election recount observation.
They have assessed Guyana’s election laws and regulations, which has now tilted the playing field in the hand of people of Guyana, as they continue to monitor this important recount.
The announcement in March of implausible election results had indicated that vote tabulations were falsified. Thanks to Election Observation Missions including The Carter Center and the many observer teams challenging the legitimacy of APNU/AFC who seek to stay in power through rigged elections. It is now clear to all that Mr Granger is an authoritarian leader, who will do anything to stay in power. His deceptive scheme of shifting narratives and fooling the people of Guyana on whom in Government was responsible for blocking approval of The Carter Center observer team’s return – “what happens in the dark always comes to light”.
A document had emerged indicating that it was the caretaker President Mr Granger himself, communicating through the caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs who opposed the team’s re-entry into Guyana, citing the airport lockdown. The correspondence was a deliberate act to prevent further scrutiny from The Carter Center, The Carter Center was among the many foreign observers who were very vocal on the lack of credibility of the declaration that was made by Returning Officer for Region Four, Clairmont Mingo.
Mingo’s unverified declaration would have placed Mr Granger back in power…Mr Granger must be careful that he is not labelled as the mastermind behind the riggings when this is all over.
To prevent fraud and manipulation in our recount process, election observers and counting agents have promoted transparency in the entire process, and we have seen a substantial representation of the opposition parties and other stakeholders monitoring every stage of the electoral process effectively and efficiently, despite the APNU party taking every step to frustrate the ongoing recount and audit of the votes. This recount of ballots will be validated. So far, the Statements of Recount (SoRs) correspond to the vote tabulation of the original SoPs and support the PPP/C’s claim to victory.
We must dismiss all misleading, mischievous, and propagandist communication if we are going to make the first step toward democracy after this recount is completed

Sincerely,
David Adams