National Recount

Mar 16, 2020 Editorial, Features / Columnists, News

It is the only thing that makes sense at present. It is
what may go some way in putting suspicions and
fears to some form of sleepless rest.
We say ‘may’ and in ‘some way’ because there is recognition that this is Guyana, and nothing ever settles fully or broadly satisfactorily here.
But we say and support strongly what GECOM has dangled publicly as part of its ongoing considerations: that is, a full recount. It is our belief and position at this paper that such a full recount would succeed in bringing some measure of sanity , introduce some level of reasonableness, and produce some degree of confirming accuracy to the unrealities that have plagued national elections, counts, and tabulations.
Listen to any of the two major contestants and nothing adds up: not the numbers presented for the other side, not the totals coming out of the national elections agency, and certainly not with any sliver of acceptance with regards to the bitterly disputed Region 4 numbers.
To take things a little further, it is not just the two major political and racial battlers, who argue and attach every objection to what has come out (and how it has come out) of GECOM.
It is all of the other much smaller parties, which have stepped forward to register not only dismay and disgust at what has emerged, but also complete dismissal and disregard for what has been served up in one presentation after another.
If there is one positive that has come out of this most turbulent of elections counting processes, it has been that the voices and presences of the newer and lesser political groups have represented that differentiation between the two colossi that contest and confront and clash. It is a rarity in this country, and though, from all current indications, they fared extremely disappointingly at the elections, they have not slunk away into resigned obscurity, but have stayed in the overheated fray and added their thoughts and positions as to how they see and view the development which rage unceasingly.
At the very least, there is that other voice amidst the shouting, though some may strenuously disagree and submit that they have aligned, and most forcefully and unacceptably, with one side, which throws the political equation into further controversy.
It was and is the role of tiebreaker and icebreaker that some had envisioned for these newer, smaller groups when they had first come on the scene. Now, though apparently not making it into the legislative assembly, they have shown some heft in a sometimes-stalwart presence, that outweighs the number of votes that came their way. That alone is precious and a most significant contribution.
Their position and that of others who have a vested interest in integrity of process and accuracy of any outcome, as well as those from far lands, who have attached themselves tightly to all that is going on, is that something is wrong.
Many things are wrong with the numbers, be they so in the hotly disputed Region 4, or in some of the regions more distant from the centre of full attention and the storms that howl without interruption.
We are at this place because nothing about the numbers is holding up before scrutiny, or with any iota of credibility, with the result that there is no gaining of any of the required strong adhesion of necessary traction.
One more time: the numbers are claimed from all corners to be flawed, with the accusations being hurled back and forth and leading nowhere, but back to the same impassioned places. It is because all those involved are claiming and proclaiming loudly those dirtiest of words in the Guyanese political lexicon: cheating! Rigging! Fraud!
The sharp and unsparing word is wholesale fraud and it emanates from numerous quarters, some foreign, many local. As one contributor has asserted: there has never been the equivalent of what has come to light.
He should know for he has passed through the wars lived and relived here, and there is no better expert eyewitness. Truth be told, we have gotten so good at these underhanded practices that many are experts at gaming the system or recognizing when such is in the works, no matter how skillfully done.
Let’s now settle things once and for all. Let there be a total recount of the entire collection of votes cast by all eligible voters in all of the regions. Let the entire process be overseen and commanded and controlled by international presences. Let this orgy of political self-destruction be authoritatively put to bed and to some semblance of fatigued sleep.

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