“We don’t want to see a repeat of 2020 elections” – British diplomat

…expresses UK’s readiness to provide any support Guyana requires for 2025 polls

Having played a major role in ensuring Guyana’s democracy was upheld during the contentious five months following the March 2020 General and Regional Elections, the United Kingdom (UK) is willing to work with Guyana to avoid a recurrence of those events at the 2025 polls.
This is according to British High Commissioner to Guyana, Jane Miller. During an interview with Guyana Times on Tuesday, the British diplomat, who only took up her posting in Guyana in 2021, explained that the UK Government is keen on ensuring, as it has in the past, free and fair elections in Guyana.
“The UK Government doesn’t want to see a repeat of 2020 and throughout the world, we’ve worked with countries on free and fair elections. And we’re doing the same here,” she stressed.
In preparation for next year’s polls, the UK diplomat has been engaging local stakeholders including the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to offer support for the upcoming elections. While the British High Commission in Guyana, as customary, will field an Election Observer Mission that will be on the ground, Miller contended that the events and preparations leading up to Polling Day is important.
“We’ve offered support and technical assistance to GECOM. We haven’t defined exactly what we’ll do yet but we’re certainly in discussions. The UK is very keen to see what we can do to prevent what happened back in 2020. So, we continue to have discussions and we’re certainly here to support the country,” she stated.
Asked what that support and technical assistance could look like, the British envoy posited that it will be what Guyana indicates it requires. In fact, she disclosed that there will be a needs assessment with the Guyana Government to ascertain the country’s needs.
“I’m keen that that support responds to Guyana’s needs. I don’t think it’s for me to say this is what they should be doing. So, we would do a needs assessment mission where we’ll work with the Government to look at where their needs are and see where they would really like our assistance. So, at this stage, I have not defined precisely the things that we’ll work on. We’ve seen the recommendations from previous observer missions and that provides a useful starting point but it will be up to GECOM and others to come to us and say this is where they would like support,” High Commissioner Miller asserted.
Only earlier this month, the ABCE diplomatic missions in Guyana – United States, Britain, Canada and the European Union – engaged GECOM on support for the upcoming polls, which is likely to be held in November 2025.
GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj told Guyana Times last week that those discussions aim to explore various forms of electoral assistance, including the potential deployment of observer delegations.
“At this point, it’s a matter of considering what format the support [from the ABCE missions] will take. Traditionally, we have received assistance from them… At this point, the discussion is to determine what format the support will take. So, after having this discussion with them, the next step for [the Elections Commission] to discuss is what we want and then we will make a formal request to them,” Gunraj had stated.
On Tuesday, High Commissioner Miller declared that she is hoping that GECOM is able to make that determination of the support it would require “very soon”.
After a nearly smooth polling day on March 2, 2020, Guyana was embroiled in a prolonged electoral impasse for five months following blatant attempts by senior GECOM officials and the then People’s National Congress (PNC)-led A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government, which refused to concede defeat and demit office.
The ABCE diplomatic missions in Guyana, at the time, were vocal in their calls for democracy to prevail and for the will of the Guyanese people be respected. In fact, even after a Caricom-led national recount confirmed the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) electoral victory, the David Granger-led coalition regime continued with its delay tactics by moving to the courts.
The Western diplomats had deemed the tabulation process for Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) – Guyana’s largest voting district – as lacking transparency and credibility. This was after attempts were made by embattled Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, along with others to inflate the votes in favour of the then coalition Administration.
As the electoral impasse continued months after the March 2020 polls, the ABCE diplomatic community continued mounting pressure on the APNU/AFC to concede defeat, warning of Guyana facing isolation and consequences.
In fact, the United States (US) had gone ahead to impose visa sanctions against several Government and electoral officials, and their immediate family members, for their role in undermining democracy in Guyana. The UK, Canada as well as the EU had also indicated that they were also considering following suit.
The heightened pressure from the West led to the APNU/AFC eventually conceding and allowed the Dr Irfaan Ali-led administration to finally take office on August 2, 2020.
Following those events, several senior GECOM officials and political activists have been charged and placed before the courts on a series of electoral fraud charges including misconduct while holding public office, presenting falsified documentation, and planning to manipulate Guyana’s voters by presenting an inaccurate vote total.
Those charged include former Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield; Deputy CEO, Roxanne Myers; former Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, and GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings, and Michelle Miller. Former People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Chairperson Volda Lawrence and PNCR activist Carol Smith-Joseph, are also before the court on election fraud related charges.
However, years after those charges were instituted in 2021, these cases continue to languish in the Magistrates’ Courts, marred with constant and prolonged delays.
Meanwhile, following the 2020 elections fiasco, steps have been taken by the current PPP/C Administration to strengthen Guyana’s electoral system with needed amendments to the Representative of the People’s Act (ROPA) – the country’s main electoral law. The National Registration Act, another electoral law, has also been amended. (G8)