Delusional notions and sheer falsehoods

Jul 27, 2020 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
If it were not obvious before, it should now be obvious to all that the APNU+AFC Coalition resides in an alternative universe – one where the national recount, court decisions and various reports from Elections Observation Missions, among others, are warped to suit their deluded reality.
The APNU+AFC Coalition issued a press statement replete with, to put nicely, delusional notions and sheer falsehoods.
Out of these falsehoods, they have come to the ridiculous conclusion that they have won the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections, and attempts are being made to deny them this victory. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it is the Coalition that has made a series of nefarious attempts to steal the elections and deny the true will of the Guyanese people.In their statement, they have once again repeat the often-debunked claims of fraud discovered during the recount and are asking GECOM to investigate these claims before making a final declaration. Both GECOM and Guyana’s apex court, the Caribbean Court of Justice, have made it quite clear that the only avenue to deal with these unfounded allegations is the High Court, through an election petition, after a final declaration elections has been made. However, the APNU+AFC Coalition would have GECOM exceed its authority and invalidate votes in order to give them a victory.
It would be instructive for the APNU+AFC Coalition to read the ruling of the CCJ in its judgment on July 8, 2020 where it was clearly stated that: “The Chairperson of GECOM was therefore perfectly entitled and right to take the position that these allegations if pursued, should be addressed by an election petition filed in the High Court as contemplated by Article 163.” Also, the High Court in its ruling of July 20, 2020 reemphasized this and further stated that the only data that could be used for the declaration of the results of the elections would have to be the recount results or data.
It should also be noted that the claims of fraud was dismissed by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) team report – the same team that the Coalition leader, President David Granger, called the “legitimate interlocutors” in the national recount process. This was made quite clear in their report, where they basically called out the Coalition for engaging in a fishing expedition. For avoidance of doubt, the CARICOM team’s report said: “The Team did not view the objections raised by the APNU/AFC as materially relevant to the recount of the ballots…we simply have no evidence as to who were the ultimate beneficiaries of the alleged “ghost voting” and voter impersonation…nothing that we witnessed warrants a challenge to the inescapable conclusion that the recount results are acceptable and should constitute the basis of the declaration of the results of the March 02, 2020 elections. Any aggrieved political party has been afforded the right to seek redress before the courts in the form of an election petition…we are, however, of the unshakable belief that the people of Guyana expressed their will at the ballot box, and as a result, the three-person CARICOM Observer Team concludes that the recount results are completely acceptable.”
However, as they are wont to do, the members of the Coalition are selective in their reading of reports and court decisions.
For those of us attempting to derive logic from the illogicality coming from the APNU+AFC Coalition camp, we remember that it was none other than David Granger who admitted that the ‘so-called’ evidence of irregularities in the elections was in Joseph Harmon’s possession – evidence that he is yet to address publicly. On June 14, 2020, Granger had said, “Evidence (of irregularities) has been compiled…that evidence is available from our Election Agent, Colonel Harmon.” Also, it was David Granger who admitted that he had not even seen a single Statement of Poll from the March 2, 2020 Elections. In the same interview of June 14, 2020, Granger had said: “What I can say is that the spreadsheet that I was presented with of the SOPs indicated quite clearly – I haven’t seen the individual SOPs myself – they indicated quite clearly that the numerical advantage was in favour of the APNU+AFC. I never saw the SOPs myself. I saw the spreadsheet and I am satisfied that the spreadsheet was accurate.” The logical action that Guyanese would expect from the Coalition, if it persists with the unfounded
claims being made, is to made public the ‘evidence’ of irregularities and, more importantly, make public its Statements of Poll. One can only conclude that the APNU+AFC Coalition knows fully well that their allegations are only red herring being put out there to comfort their base.
Instead of responsible action, the APNU+AFC Coalition prefers to see our image on the global stage be dragged through the mud, whilst our citizens continue to suffer.
The stability and well-being of this country depends on the democratic will of the people being recognized. The time has reached for the APNU+AFC to stop all these shenanigans and allow the government of the people to be sworn in.
They can still salvage whatever credibility they have left and concede.
Our people are suffering from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn in the country. They Coalition can bring relief to us all by doing the decent and honest thing. Concede!
Yours truly,
Sherwyn Greaves

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