India calls for credible, transparent electoral processes in Guyana

Another one of Guyana’s major bilateral partner, India, has also joined those in the international community in calling for Guyana’s electoral processes to be credible and transparent.

This call was sounded by Spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, Raveesh Kumar.
According to reports coming out of New Delhi, Kumar said that they are closely following the developments in Guyana’s elections.
He was at the time responding to media queries on Guyana’s electoral fiasco.
“As a democracy itself, and a time-tested friend of Guyana, India would underline that it is important that Guyana’s electoral processes are credible, fair and transparent.”
Moreover, the Spokesperson went onto say that it is in the interest of all parties that the elections are assessed both by the people of Guyana and the international community.
India’s External Affairs Ministry has direct responsibility for the High Commission office here in Georgetown. This is one of the few times the country has spoken out on Guyana’s domestic affairs.
The emerging Asian-powerhouse is currently funding several projects, including major infrastructural programmes such as the East Bank-East Coast Demerara bypass road project, here.
India is the latest of Guyana’s bilateral partners as well international and regional bodies that have called for the electoral process here to be conducted transparently to reflect the will of the Guyanese people.
Already partners like the United States have warned of serious sanctions should a new government be formed based on electoral fraud.
In fact, only Tuesday, the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, warned that “individuals who seek to benefit from electoral fraud and form illegitimate Government, [or] regimes will be subject to a variety of serious consequences from the United States.”
Speaking at media conference on South American affairs, Secretary Pompeo noted that the U.S. has been closely monitoring the tabulation of votes in Guyana.
The US, he added, joins other international and regional organisations including the Organisation of American States (OAS), The Commonwealth, the European Union (EU) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in calling for an accurate count of the March 2 elections results.
Meanwhile, Guyana is already seeing the effects of the warnings from the international community. It has been reported that Norway has put the brakes on the release of NOK 393 million (US$36.2M) climate aid to Guyana in light of the current post elections chaos and fiasco.
Development Today, an independent online journal specialising in political, business and environmental issues, reported the Climate Ministry in Oslo as saying, “No further decisions will be made on…planning or spending” of this money until a legitimate government is in place.
In December 2019, Government had announced that the remaining payments under the Guyana Norway Agreement to the tune of Gy$9.1 billion (US$50 million) had been released, but Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had tempered expectations by pointing out that Guyana will not have access to this money until after the General and Regional Elections.
Those elections were held on March 2, 2020 but the results have been marred by discredited tabulation of votes in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).
This saw the intervention of the CARICOM Chair, Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who fielded a five-member high-level team to supervise a national recount following a request by President David Granger and the agreement of Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo. However, the regional team was forced to withdraw their services on Tuesday after the High Court blocked the recounting process from moving forward.