OAS, USAID up pressure for credibility, transparency in recount

The international community continues to monitor developments in Guyana as the country enters into day three of the National Recount of the March 2 votes, emphasising the need for the process to be credible.

After weeks of preparation, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) finally commenced the recount process on Wednesday — more than a month after the decision was taken, and more than two months since Guyanese voted.
The process is being scrutinised by a high-level team from Caricom along with members of other observer missions, both local and foreign. Among foreign observers is the Organisation of American States (OAS), which has recruited local personnel since the current travel restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have prevented the observers who were here in March from returning.
In a social media post on Thursday, the OAS welcomed the initiation of the National Recount.
“Transparency & compliance with the law will be critical to ensure the credibility of the process & public trust in the results,” the international body, of which Guyana is a member, stated.
The tweet from the OAS added that its observers on the ground will monitor the process “through to its conclusion”.
This statement was retweet by both the Secretary at the OAS Secretariat for Strengthening Democracy, Francisco Guerrero Aguirre, and the Secretary-General of the OAS, Luis Almagro. SG Almagro added in his post on twitter that the National Recount in Guyana “is key to provide transparency and certainty to the electoral process and the people.”
He welcomed the beginning of the process, and called on all parties to continue supporting this task in favour of democracy in the country.
Only early this week, Guerrero had joined calls, both locally and internationally, for the caretaker Coalition to allow the United States’ Carter Center observers to return for the recount. The Center had disclosed that it was denied permission to fly to Guyana on an empty flight on Monday that came to Georgetown to repatriate US citizens stranded here.
The OAS-fielded Elections Observation Mission (EOM), which was led by former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding, had cited a lack of transparency and credibility in the Region Four tabulation process back in March, and after the contentious declaration by embattled Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo on March 13, had withdrawn from Guyana.
Following last month’s announcement of a National Recount, the OAS Secretary-General had said this was an “important step to grant legitimacy to Guyana’s Elections”
In a subsequent missive, the OAS’ EOM had welcomed the move, and made several recommendations to ensure its transparency, including the removal of partisan officials from the process.

USAID
This sentiment was also expressed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In a tweet on Thursday, USAID Acting Administrator John Barsa said he was happy to see Guyana is undergoing a transparent recount of its national elections.
“@USAID is looking forward to a swift, credible, and clear conclusion to the recount process so we can concentrate both on the threat posed by #COVID-19 and the development needs of Guyana,” Barsa stated in the social media post.
Only last week, USAID provided US$1.7 million (Gy$357 million) to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak in Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean.