Finality was brought to the elections process, some five months after, when the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Retired Justice Claudette Singh, declared that the Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali-led People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) List of Candidates garnered the most votes at the March 2 polls.
GECOM Chair, Retired Justice Claudette Singh
The final declaration was made on Sunday, at just about 15:00h, after Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield submitted his final elections report to the Commission.
Based on the numbers submitted by Lowenfield, the PPP/C secured 233,336 votes while the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) garnered 217,920 votes. The smaller parties – A New and United Guyana – 2313; Change Guyana –1953; Liberty and Justice Party – 2657; People’s Republic Party – 889; The Citizenship Initiative – 680; The New Movement – 244; and the United Republican Party – 360.
The PPP/C’s victory became official after a long battle with the incumbent as it relates to getting to the final declaration. On Sunday, the seven-member Elections Commission began its meeting just about 10:00h in an effort to determine the way forward.
It was at that meeting that the Government-nominated Commissioners – Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman – proposed that the GECOM Chair ask the then Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo and now former President David Granger to hold a discussion on the way forward.
“What has happened is that Commissioner Corbin made a proposal in terms of us not accepting the recount as the basis for results that it would be useful for the two leaders to speak on the way forward,” Alexander said.
The proposal came after the coalition insisted that the figures emanating from the 33-days-long National Recount were not the true reflection of the will of the people. However, they are yet to provide any form of solid proof that the March 2 General and Regional Elections was plagued by voter fraud.
The Chair acceded to the proposal and contacted both Jagdeo and Granger, who agreed to dialogue. However, Jagdeo explained that his Party is only open to dialogue with the APNU/AFC after the Commission made a declaration.
The meeting was then adjourned from the morning to 14:00h.
Concession
Following Jagdeo’s revelation that dialogue would only come after a declaration, Granger realised that all the cards in the deck were rightfully stacked against him and he had no other choice than to give up. He knew that no matter what his Party did, they could no longer delay the inevitable – which is the ascension of Ali as President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.
In a statement, Granger related that he would have received a call from Justice Singh, who invited him to converse with Jagdeo on the way forward. He explained that he had no objection to speaking with Jagdeo.
After months of abusing the judicial process, in an effort to stay in power longer, Granger recognised that the Commission has a legal obligation as a result of the recent ruling of the Court of Appeal, to proceed with a declaration. Granger said that notwithstanding that declaration, the APNU/AFC maintains that the anomalies and irregularities which have been uncovered during the recount process cannot be accepted and will form the grounds for an election petition.
CEO submits report
Jagdeo’s refusal to open dialogue with Granger in the absence of a declaration set several things in motion with the main one being a concession by the incumbent.
Granger’s concession led to his GECOM Commissioners singing a different tune. The trio, known to conveniently skip GECOM meetings when things are not in their favour, returned just as CEO Lowenfield submitted his report using the numbers from the recount.
The task to get Lowenfield to submit the correct report has been a long and hard one for both the Chair of GECOM and the PPP-nominated Commissioners. The CEO went rogue throughout the polling day process and submitted several reports reflecting fraudulent figures.
Twice he voided votes and the last time he added over 14,000 extra votes to the total number of ballots cast at the polls. It took three Courts – the High Court, Court of Appeal and Caribbean Court of Justice – in two cases to get Lowenfield to submit the correct numbers that reflect the true will of the Guyanese people.
On Sunday, he did just that and submitted the correct numbers from the National Recount that reflected the PPP/C win.
In his report submitted, the CEO outlined that PPP/C secured 33 parliamentary seats, while APNU/AFC got 31 and joiner parties (A New and United Guyanese, Liberty and Justice Party, The New Movement) – which had an accumulated 5214 votes – received one seat.
Walkout
The APNU/AFC Commissioners, after Lowenfield’s report, and the tabling of the motion to declare Ali as President, walked out of the meeting.
According to them, the walkout is to “distance” themselves from the declaration.
“We feel that every vote should be counted and no invalid vote should be allowed to impact the results. Any other approach will lead to another political saga in our country’s short but turbulent political history. We are, therefore, distancing ourselves from any declaration other than a non-declaration and fresh elections,” the trio noted in a prepared statement.
Declaration
“Following the unanimous decision of the Court of Appeal on 30th July, 2020, the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission Justice Claudette Singh wrote to the Chief Election Officer, Mr Keith Lowenfield requesting that he presents his report using the results of the recount of the ballots cast in the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections. The CEO complied with the Chairperson’s request and submitted the report as requested…After careful examination of the report, Justice Claudette Singh declared Mohamed Irfaan Ali as President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana,” GECOM said in a statement.
The GECOM Chair made the declaration before the Commissioners from the PPP – Sase Gunraj, Robeson Benn and Bibi Shadick – after the APNU/AFC trio walked out.
The declaration set several things in motion, which led to a swift swearing-in of Ali as Guyana’s 9th Executive President.
Following the declaration, Gunraj told the media that: “It’s their prerogative (the APNU/AFC trio distancing themselves from the declaration). I want to say that it is their last hoorah in terms of standing up against the figures that were generated. Even as late as this morning they were attempting to raise issues that were already litigated and pronounced upon by the court and I guess everyone has a reason for doing what they do and they perhaps have the best reasons in mind.”
Immediately after the declaration, the GECOM Chair wrote to the Chancellor of the Judiciary, Yonette Cummings-Edwards, informing her of the regime change. She said: “Subject to the results of the Recount of the ballots cast at the General and Regional Elections held on 2nd March, 2020 and Article 177 (2) (b) pf the Constitution of Guyana, Mr Mohamed Irfaan Ali of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic was declared the 9th Executive President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana by the Guyana Elections Commission on 2nd August, 2020.
“In this regard, I take this opportunity to officially inform you of the declaration by the Commission and to request that in your capacity as Chancellor, arrangements are made to facilitate the swearing in of the new President.”
