Appeal to GECOM, President, and Opposition Leader

May 04, 2020 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

The electoral impasse in Guyana has gone past two months with no officially declared winner so Caricom has stepped forward with a noble effort to bring about a workable resolution to the crisis. I have a suggested credible sequence of events to bring final resolution. I appeal to GECOM, the President and Opposition Leader to cooperate to bring resolution.
Firstly, I wish to publicly thank Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Chair of Caricom, and her colleagues for her (their) timely intervention (over six weeks ago) to help save electoral democracy in Guyana by sending a five member high level team to observe the recounting of ballots of the March 2 elections. The process was abandoned around March 15 as a result of court action (injunction) that came to an end around March 23. Since that time, GECOM has agreed to the Caricom’s audit (observer) team. The team’s size has been reduced to three with the same objective in mind to oversee the recounting process to bring finality to the real outcome and an officially declared winner.
I also applaud the caretaker President and the caretaker Opposition Leader for their gentleman agreement to accept Caricom (Ms. Mottley) as a mediator of the recounting process. I hope there would be no further obstacles to completing the recounting process so that a winner can be declared and the country can have a government as per the will of the electorate. The world is watching us. Guyana is already a laughing stock with Guyanese being ridiculed in the diaspora over remarks that Guyanese don’t know what is a majority, how to count, certifying SOPs, counting 460K ballots over nine weeks, etc.
A lot of blame has been cast, some unjustifiably, on the President and the Coalition for putting a wrench on the wheels of the recount. The ruling administration now has a chance to correct that unjustified sinister image and show the world that it is totally in favour of the recount and is prepared to accept the outcome. President Granger has been reputed internationally to be an honourable man and I am confident he wants to bring the process to a quick end.
I hold no brief for any political party, least of all the PPP that has been very unkind to those of us who partook in the struggle for the restoration of democracy in the homeland. As someone who has travelled around the world reporting on and analyzing elections and as a pollster and commentator on Guyana’s politics, I cannot help but to comment on what transpired in Guyana since the March 2 elections. I have noticed the shameless efforts being made to undermine electoral democracy at GECOM with attempted fraudulent use of SOP numbers. I am extremely embarrassed to talk about Guyana with non-Guyanese friends and media operatives pertaining to the elections.
Here is my recommendation to the President, Opposition Leader, and GECOM to help bring this situation closer to normalcy so as to entrench electoral democracy and bring an early end to the process: 1. GECOM and the Caricom team should, as per the High Court court’s ruling around March 9, complete the certification and re-tabulation of SOPs for Region 4 immediately; this would put the nation at ease that the law is being followed and remove doubt of any further court action. 2. GECOM should make a tentative announcement of the results. 3. Proceed with a full audit of all regions, as per the agreement between government and opposition with Caricom. 4. No claim to government formation or any demand for a President to be sworn in must be made until the audit is completed; hopefully, the process will be completed in three to four weeks. 5. Proceed with the official declaration of results. 6. Swear in the winner as President to proceed with formation of government.
The above is a recommended sequence to put the country at ease, save the nation from further tension and the subject of global ridicule, and allow normalcy to return to the homeland.
Separately, I appeal to the government to grant the request of the Carter Center and any observer groups to come to Guyana, as long as they are prepared to adhere to Covid-19 rules so as to monitor the recount. Also, it is not helpful to call for sanctions against anyone while a legal process is being undertaken. I urge activists calling for sanctions to please hold their hands while the President, aided by his confidante Joe Harmon and team, are cooperating to bring an end to the electoral impasse. Give the GECOM legal process a chance to work for a final outcome.

Yours truly,
Dr. Vishnu Bisram

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News