No transparency, credibility in Region 4 results – Carter Center

…Commonwealth, EU, OAS, Caricom call for verification of results from SOPs

International organisations that have Elections Observation Missions here in Guyana to monitor the electoral process have come out swinging at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for declaring unverified results for Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).

Co-Chair of Carter Centre EOM, Jason Carter

In fact, the United States-based Carter Center has declared that there was no transparency or credibility in the Region Four results since the verification process – which had commenced since Tuesday and was stalled at least five times before – was completely abandoned.
In a statement on Thursday evening, the Center expressed deep concern over the announcement of results that had not been verified, thus critically undermining transparency as well as preventing international observers and political parties from observing tabulation.
“[Wednesday and into Thursday] the transparent verification of results from District Four was stopped, and the fact that there was no transparency about the results that were ultimately announced [Thursday], means that those results lacked credibility. We don’t know, and no one else can verify, that the results that were announced were the correct results or not. We just don’t know, and we don’t know because there was no transparency in the process for announcing those results,” Co-Chair of the Carter Center’s Observer Mission, Jason Carter, told reporters on Thursday evening outside the GECOM Command Centre, which also housed the Office of the Region Four Returning Officer (RO).

Head of The Commonwealth EOM, Owen Arthur

According to Carter, his mission had already lauded GECOM for a transparent process following Monday’s polls. He noted that there was an agreed procedure, where the parties were able to verify the Statements of Poll during the verification but this was ended without completing the verification process.
“These results, therefore, came as a result of a process that we can’t identify and because we can’t identify it, and the other international observers and neither political parties, nobody really knows whether these results were accurate or not,” he contended.
The Carter Center, according to the Co-Chair, as only observers for these elections, had previously impressed upon GECOM its desire for transparency.
“So, there are opportunities for the election to have credibility, but both sides, all sides – everyone in this country, whether you’ve think you’ve won, which I think both sides have claimed they’ve won. If that’s true then what they want is to win in a credible and transparent way,” he noted.

Head of CARICOM EOM, Cynthia Combie-Martyr

To this end, Carter asserted that there was still an opportunity for this election to gain credibility, since there are a number of aspects within Guyanese law that could be utilised to return to the transparent verification procedures that had been in place and as such, urge GECOM to abide by those rules to reflect the will of the people of the country.
“I believe that there’s a dispute and there’s been a request for a recount – that’s one option. Of course, GECOM has to cooperate with respect to receiving that request and pursuing that by the rule of law. There’re other verification procedures that could be put in place, that were in place [Wednesday and Thursday] … by looking at the Statements of Polls,” Carter posited.

Head of EU EOM, Urmas Paet

He pointed out that the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, had on Wednesday implemented a system for the verification of the SoPs that was effective for all the parties.
The Carter Center’s calls for the resumption of the verification process in a transparent manner were echoed by the other international observer missions here in Guyana.
The European Union (EU) Election Observation Mission (EOM) said in a statement, also on Thursday, that having been observing the tabulation process for Region Four since the March 2 polling day, the Returning Officer declared results before the legally required tabulation process was completed.
“We, therefore, urge the Guyana Elections Commission to resume the tabulation of results for Region Four in compliance with Section 84 of the Representation of the People Act,” the EU EOM stated. Meanwhile, the OAS Electoral Observation Mission in Guyana said that the Mission was present during the several efforts to review and verify the Statements of Poll in Region Four. It added that although results were announced, the Mission notes that the process did not reach its proper conclusion as stipulated in the electoral code and that, subsequently, the results published by GECOM do not meet the established standards.
The Mission stated that it also notes that legal remedies were pursued by the Opposition People’s Progressive Party /Civic (PPP/C) but that these were unsuccessful.
“The OAS calls for this impasse to be resolved peacefully, employing the relevant provisions in the law. Published results should not be acted upon until that time. The courts should determine the best possible way forward. Any solution should be open and transparent and guarantee that all parties involved in this election have access to the maximum opportunities for redress under the law,” the statement read.Additionally, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) expressed concern about the allegations being made about the Guyana elections with respect to the tabulation of results based on the SOPs in Region Four.
“The Community calls on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to ensure that all legal and procedural processes are faithfully complied with in respect of the vote count and the declaration of results to ensure that the outcome of the polls expresses the will of the people of Guyana. We call on all parties and Guyanese to remain calm while these issues are resolved,” the regional bloc said in a missive.
Meanwhile, the Commonwealth itself made it clear that it wanted GECOM to go back to tabulating from the SOPs. According to Chairman of the Commonwealth observer group, Owen Arthur, the process is still not complete.
“It is the clear view of the group that the tabulation of the final election results has not yet been completed and verified according to the established procedures and relevant legal statutory provisions,” the former Barbadian Prime Minister asserted.
He went on to stress: “We strongly urge the Guyana Elections Commission and all parties involved to ensure the process properly follows the legal steps dictated by the laws of Guyana and is in line with the country’s international commitments.”
The Commonwealth has been lending support to GECOM in preparation for these March 2020 General and Regional Elections and had deployed two senior electoral advisers to assist the local elections body.