US Govt supporting democracy – State Dept Director

…says has no preference of political party elected in Guyana

The United States of America has remained deeply concerned about the electoral process here in Guyana, as the country awaits the results of a national ballot recount which is currently ongoing.

However, Director of the Office of Caribbean Affairs at the State Department, Katherine Dueholm said the US Government takes no preference in which political party is elected, as long as the process is credible and carries the voice of the Guyanese people.
She took this position during a forum organised to engage Guyanese-Americans on the current political situation here. During the discussion, one person sought to insist that the US was taking sides with other stakeholders and condemned threats of sanctions on Guyana.
But Dueholm asserted, “The US has no preference in the outcome of this process, only that it represents the views of the Guyanese people…We are pro-democracy and sometimes, people like the way it shapes out because it favours their side and sometimes, they don’t. I think perhaps that illustrates why some folks are feeling like some of the positions we’ve taken are maybe not in keeping with what they hoped to see. But it is keeping with supporting the process of democracy.”
Guyana’s elections, she noted, was heavily backed by the US through the deployment of observers and other funding to ensure it was fair.
“We have spend a fair amount of funding and resources and effort in trying to make this a fair and transparent and credible election…we wanted to be sure that we were prepared for the elections. We wanted them to be smooth and embrace whatever Government came out of that result and to move forward.”
She went on to note that on March 2, they were pleased with the process. This position was taken after firsthand information from their own officials on the ground. As such, when the results tabulation went haywire, Dueholm said they knew because of “clear observations” and not from any entity or reports of the process. The US has independently identified a situation where Guyana had diverged from its established method.
“In having prepared for the process and bringing in observers, we watched the elections and they went smoothly. We were happy with the polling and it was unfortunate that things started to unravel at the tabulation process,” the Director said.
She added, “With respect to the tabulation where things started to unravel, we based on the very clear observations of our own Ambassador in the country who saw with her own eyes, the departure from Guyana’s own established processes. So this is not a US attempt to impose our electoral process. It is not listening to reports of tabulations coming from another quarter. It is our diplomats on the ground…seeing these sorts of things and knowing the requirements for polling and tabulation.”
Looking ahead, the US said it is still committed to working with any Government that is elected from a reliable process. In fact, these plans were drafted even before the March 2 polls.
“We had the plans and we had it lined up. We were prepared to embrace whatever legitimate results came out of this and we remain prepared to embrace whatever electoral result represents the voice of the Guyanese people…We were extremely excited to be looking at where Guyana was heading in its trajectory at this point in time and really make the most of it and to work with Guyanese people.”
The United States has been at the forefront of mounting international pressure for the March 2 elections results to be credible and transparent.
The ABCE countries, the European Union (EU), the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and the Organisation of American States (OAS) had all mounted calls for sanctions to be imposed.
The US-based Carter Center’s observation mission was in Guyana for the March 2 polls. That team was led by American lawyer Jason Carter, the grandson of former US President Jimmy Carter, and former Senegal Prime Minister Aminata Toure.
By March 20, the Carter Center had withdrawn from Guyana in the wake of discredited declarations from GECOM’s Returning Officer for Region Four, Clairmont Mingo, the widespread criticism from international and local observers of the lack of credibility in the process and the overall break down in political stability.
The observer mission had also cited specific threats against the international community and being impeded from doing its work by APNU/AFC supporters as reasons for their withdrawal from the process.