Another round of seasonal madness

Mar 08, 2020 Features / Columnists, My Column

Madness; sheer madness. Every time there are elections people become riled because they set store on the results favouring their political party.
There have never been protests since the 1997 elections, when some untoward things happened. This time there is a focus on the declaration. Back then, there was no declaration until weeks after the president was sworn in.
I do not recall the comments of the international observers, but those elections were certified until a ruling by the court. At the centre of the court challenge was the use of identification cards. The law did not stipulate the use of identification cards, so the decision to reject voters who did not possess them was deemed illegal.
Back then, as is happening today, there were street protests. Properties were damaged, just as is happening today and people died. The same thing is happening today.
I suppose one can understand, since people carry their political support buried in their psyche. This support bubbles or erupts to the surface when it is time for elections.
For past elections there was a media code of conduct. This time the media were not required to sign such a code, although the political parties were and did.
But this time was vastly different from back then. The preponderance of cell phones and the rapidity with which people are able to post video images of what is occurring. There is no restraint or consideration for what damage such postings can cause.
In fact, Guyana simply cannot control the social media. People have gravitated to that source for their news and information.
The 2020 elections were touted as the Mother of all Elections, if only because of the oil that is coming up offshore. The election campaign was hectic. Of course there was the rhetoric, but at least in the public eye, the politicians refrained from inciting anything.
After the polls, the Guyana Elections Commission set about releasing the results. Right up to Wednesday there was no confusion, until the two major parties began to celebrate victory. There was some concern until the international community began to urge restraint.
The call was to let GECOM have the final say. This call was heeded, although the celebrations, though muted, continued. But GECOM did not have the final say. Results released earlier placed the People’s Progressive Party ahead in the vote count.
It came down to the Region Four vote count. This region has the largest volume of voters and traditionally, it favoured the incumbent, which was known by many names up until 2015.
GECOM released what purported to be the figures for Region Four and all hell broke loose. The various parties contended that their statements of poll did not support those figures.
The international community joined in the clamour. First, there was a call for a verification of the count. There were queries about the manner in which the final count was done. Claims that the final figure was a figment of the imagination began to surface and to spread.
Of interest was the role of the observers. They actually became active participants in the elections, going beyond the scope of observing. But one may argue that this is all well and good, since their actions actually cleared the way for claims of transparency. And the observers are expected to pronounce on the conduct and transparency of the elections.
There has to be a recount of the Region Four votes in full view of all concerned. Again, what GECOM declares should be the be all and end all of the process. But I fear that this will not end the discontent of one group or the other. It is here one will be able to test the control the political leaders have over their supporters.
There were ugly incidents in various parts of the country. Police ranks were attacked, as was a bus transporting schoolchildren. This is most unusual. It brings back days when political violence all but wrecked the country and people died.
I am afraid that while one group is on the rampage the other group is seething. Something must be done to lower the tension. Parents declined to send their children to school for fear of violence befalling them.
And even a national holiday’s celebrations are muted if not cancelled altogether. This happened once before when the Christmas holidays were a far cry from what they were supposed to be. Again this was in 1997. And the businessmen complained bitterly.
To his credit, President David Granger refused to be rushed into a swearing in ceremony, a far cry from what happened in 1997 when a court marshal was assaulted and the nation learnt of the swearing in, even as the GECOM commissioners were working on the declaration of the polls.
But then again, these are different times. For the past few months the eyes of the world have been on Guyana. People who never heard of this country now know it as never before.
It is such that the world expected a declaration of the elections results almost immediately. The fastest results have ever been declared in this country was five days. That was in 2015. This time people expected the results in two days.
They chaffed at the delay in the declaration. They became critical of GECOM, without recognizing the laws that govern the elections.
It is therefore time for Guyana to look at electoral reform. For starters, the composition of the elections commission needs to be changed. It is a partisan commission with both sides of the commission favouring a political interest.
The declaration of the polls also needs to be changed. With the extensive electronic coverage that the country enjoys, results on statements of poll can be photographed and dispatched to the centre and to the respective political parties almost instantaneously.
To a large extent this happened and allowed the political parties to determine their standing.
And above all, the registration process must really be continuous. This time around the final voters’ list was not sanitized, so it was a bloated as a beached whale.
These are things that could make any election as credible as can be, and the elections commission truly independent. As of now, the nation is using what has become known as the Carter formula. This formula is outdated. It has outlived its usefulness.