Remove officials with “partisan behaviour” from recount – OAS

…Guyanese need Govt elected on credible count – US diplomat

As the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is still working out the logistics for conducting a recount of the March 2 vote, the observation mission of the Organisation of American States (OAS) has joined mounting calls for partisan officials to be removed from the recounting process.

The OAS Elections Observer Mission (EOM), which was in Guyana in March to oversee the election process, has been vocal about the lack of credibility in the declaration of the Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) results by controversial Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo.

Delay concerns
Chief of the Observation Mission, former Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding, in a statement on Wednesday, expressed concerns that after more than six weeks since

Guyanese voted, there was yet to be an accurate and credible result that would allow a duly-elected government to assume office.
However, as the Elections Commission prepares to undertake the national recount, the Mission is urging GECOM to ensure that the procedures for the recount are transparent and consistent, that the instructions to election officials conducting the recount are unambiguous and based on the provisions of the relevant laws, and that the public be fully informed of the methodology to be used.
More particularly, the OAS observers requested, among other things, that GECOM ensures “…the officials to be engaged in the recount are selected based on their impartiality and those who have displayed partisan behaviour are excluded”.
This call by the foreign observation mission comes on the heels of the Opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) pushing for the removal of Mingo as well as Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield and his deputy, Roxane Myers from the national recount.
In fact, the party’s General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo last week said, “We’re arguing that the compromised staff of GECOM must not be part of this process and there are about four or five persons we have identified… So, we would not like these people to be present, because they will undermine the recount as they undermine the process of declaration.”
Nevertheless, the OAS EOM further asked that GECOM ensure that the duly authorised representatives of political parties and accredited observers are allowed to see (but not handle) each ballot; the legal provisions for challenging the determination of ballots are fully respected; an ascertainment is made as to whether the number of ballots cast corresponds with the number of persons recorded as having voted, and that the result of the recount for each polling station is compared with the Statement of Poll (SOP) signed by the Presiding Officer.

Unacceptable
Meanwhile, addressing the 156-day proposal by Lowenfield for the recount to be conducted, the foreign observer mission noted that this was unacceptable.
“The proposal by the Chief Elections Officer that would have required five months to recount less than 500,000 ballots is unheard of in any democracy and would be unacceptable under any circumstances,” it noted.
To this end, the Mission commended the seven-member Elections Commission for ordering a revised timetable.
According to the OAS Observer Mission, it is committed to ensuring that the will of Guyanese prevail and that Guyana’s position as an internationally respected democracy is restored and preserved.
Several international organisations, including the 35-member OAS, and bilateral partners including powerhouse United States have said that any government sworn in based on non-credible results would not be recognised as legitimate and some have even warned of “serious consequences” as well as sanctions Guyana could face.

Citizens need creditable Govt
In fact, following the statement by the OAS Mission on Wednesday, Assistant Secretary for the US Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Michael Kozak, also lamented that Guyana is yet to have a credibly elected Government.
“It has been 6 weeks since elections were held in #Guyana with no result. The US stands with @OASofficial in urging GECOM to conduct a recount as soon as possible. Guyanese citizens need a government elected based on a credible count of their votes now more than ever,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, the OAS Mission, in its missive, said the political crisis in Guyana was not intractable. It noted that after a peaceful and transparent voting and counting of ballots on March 2, all that remained was for the count from each polling station to be accurately tabulated and declared, but there was an abundance of evidence that this was not done in the case of Region Four, which has ultimately led to the decision that all ballots in the 10 regions would be recounted.
The OAS Mission noted the current impasse was “especially regrettable” in light of the global health crisis that requires every government to take decisive actions and to be able to command the confidence of its people in order to mobilise them in thwarting the spread of the coronavirus.