It is now coming down to the end of the National Recount, which started thirty days ago; and as each day passes by, the fraud committed by Clairmont Mingo is being unravelled. As many have expressed, the fraud perpetrated by Mingo, reportedly with directions from elements within the electoral machinery and the APNU/AFC, was not only clumsy in content, but also daring in modus operandi, since it was committed in full view of the world.
Certainly, these elections will be remembered as being the most controversial, especially considering the fact that it is now more than three months after voting occurred and a credible winner is yet to be announced. With just a matter of days left before the final overall tabulation of the elections results is announced, the incumbent APNU/AFC Coalition is attempting to use every method possible to cause delays and create confusion in a bid to have the elections nullified.
The writing is as clear as day: the APNU/AFC has lost the elections. The Coalition’s overtures to continue to insult the intelligence of Guyanese and other international stakeholders by making wild and ridiculous claims that persons who are dead and migrated voted on E-Day are clearly not working.
Many watched, in disgust, the virtual presentation by Joseph Harmon on the eve of Independence, as he continued to push the false narrative that the March 2, polls were rigged in favour of the PPP. This continual stream of allegations of electoral fraud is contrary to the position taken by President David Granger, who told the world on March 3, 2020 that the elections were “free, fair and orderly.”
It should also be mentioned that the credible and transparent conduct of the elections was reinforced by GECOM Chairperson Justice (rtd) Claudette Singh, all the accredited observer groups (OAS, Commonwealth, EU, Caricom, Carter Center, PSC), as well as the diplomatic community.
Several other respected individuals representing various reputable organisations had expressed similar views in their initial observations of the conduct of the polls. Many of them had pointed out that while polling day activities were generally smooth and free and fair, it was the tabulation of the District Four results which landed the country into the present political crisis.
Barbados Ambassador to the OAS, Noel Lynch, had confirmed this during his report to the OAS Council. He was quoted as saying: “Irregularities occurred, not in the system by which the Guyanese electorate cast their votes on March 2nd, but in the presentation of the count afterwards”. However, hardcore elements within the PNC are so immersed in holding on to power that they have become consumed in it, and, in the process, have lost rationality, fairness, compassion, and morality.
Over the past few weeks, APNU/AFC officials have been making a number of unsubstantiated claims, and have been demanding the indulgence of the GECOM Chair to “investigate”.
Legal minds have proffered that GECOM cannot probe its own conduct; these are matters for the court, and this could be done via an elections petition after the elections’ results would have been declared.
Unfortunately, based on the actions of the GECOM Chair recently, she could easily be accused on acting independent of the Commission when she decided to write the Commissioner of Police to investigate the claims by APNU/AFC that persons who were out of the country voted in the elections.
That said, the claims being made by APNU/AFC are baseless, and are a clear attempt to create confusion. To begin with, it is difficult to believe that those “irregularities” would happen in spite of all the various party agents, Observers and GECOM staff being present at each polling station. For something like that to occur, it would require a great deal of collusion between everyone present. This, we know, is almost impossible, considering Guyana’s political climate and the level of distrust between parties.
Over the past few days, various political stakeholders have found that many of the persons whom the APNU/AFC claimed were out of the jurisdiction but voted were in fact present in Guyana at the time of the elections. Several of the persons have since come forward and presented their stories to the media.
Now that all of the allegations that dead and migrated persons ‘voted’ have been debunked, we are almost certain that the APNU/AFC would dig hard to find other means of creating mischief in its quest to hold on to power.
The incumbent Coalition has lost the confidence of the majority of Guyanese a long time ago, and it is only harming itself by pushing a false narrative of fraud, which no one believes.
