It’s now up to GECOM – Granger admits

A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Presidential Candidate David Granger has admitted that it was now up to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to decide on the next steps in concluding the electoral process.

The caretaker President made those remarks outside State House while addressing a large crowd of supporters– a gathering which is considered to be in breach of the COVID-19 guidelines.
“So, the matter is not closed; it now has to go back to the Election Commission. We all have to be patient,” the APNU Leader, who was not wearing a face mask, informed the coalition supporters.
“We will have to assess the situation in which we are in now. The matter will go back to the Election Commission,” Granger said.
GECOM is slated to meet today at 13:30h to discuss the ruling handed down by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which asserted that Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield must prepare a final elections report as directed by the Chairperson, Retired Justice Claudette Singh – that is, based on the results of the recount exercise.
On May 17, the APNU/AFC Leader, while addressing reporters outside the recount venue – the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) – reiterated that he would accept the decision made by GECOM.
GECOM’s Chairperson had already made it clear that the declaration of the elections results would be based on the certified recount figures which show that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) won the elections with 233,336 votes.

Meanwhile, further commenting on the CCJ ruling, Granger admitted to his supporters that the judgment was not in APNU/AFC’s favour.
“The CCJ has not allowed the position that our Court of Appeal has taken,” he said as he furthered the coalition’s false narrative that dead and migrated persons voted at the March 2 polls.
“We all went out on the 2nd of March, March passed, April passed, May passed, June passed and now we’re in July. It is the first time this has happened in the history of our country, and it has happened because there are some bad elements out there who tried to manipulate the vote,” Granger asserted.
However, the CCJ, in its ruling, made it clear that the concerns being raised by the APNU/AFC should be addressed in an elections petition filed in Guyana’s High Court.
Also reacting to the CCJ ruling, APNU/AFC’s Co-Campaign Manager, Joseph Harmon also acknowledged that the decision now lay in the hands of GECOM.
“The end of this matter in the Caribbean Court of Justice puts the matter back to GECOM for the final decisions to be made in the declaration and swearing-in of our President…We expect that GECOM, in its understanding of the court’s ruling, will stand firmly with the Constitution, which is our supreme law,” Harmon expressed in a statement.