The election laws are not the problem

Mar 21, 2021 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – The Report of the European Union’s Observer Mission to Guyana’s 2020 elections does not spring any surprises. Nothing detailed in the report should come as a revelation.
The Report virtually confirms the jiggery-pokery, which took place during the tabulation process. The Observer Mission noted: “The results declared by the RO on 13 March are not credible. These results gave APNU+AFC and PPP/C 136,057 and 77,231 votes respectively for the general elections in Region Four, enough for the ruling coalition to overcome the opposition’s advantage in the other regions and take the lead nationally. Supported by the online publication of almost all Region Four polling station results protocols, PPP/C’s parallel tabulation suggested the opposite outcome. It gave the ruling coalition and the opposition 114,416 and 80,150 votes respectively in the region, thus placing PPP/C ahead…”
This should not shock anyone. The RO’s declaration was the basis of the confusion, which erupted. And it is important that those complicit in wrongdoing in relation to the tabulation should face the harshest penalties under our laws.
The EU Observer Mission’s Report makes 26 recommendations, including eight priority recommendations. Many of these recommendations call for the consolidation of the country’s electoral laws to strengthen legal clarity and certainty.
But consolidating the country’s elections laws will not end dishonesty. And it certainly will not prevent elections becoming a courthouse matter.
Following the controversy which erupted about the election results, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago is reported to have told a journalist, “I’m worried that an election held a month ago is a courthouse matter. I’m getting a feeling that this is not going to end well. I hope I’m wrong, but that feeling with the elections and the court after a month, I’m not having a good feeling about it. What is even more troubling to me is that on the second (visit) we thought we had some sort agreement from the leadership in Guyana that they put a marker down, lets count the ballots and we will abide by that count. The ending of an election is counting the ballots. It is the counting of the ballots that is the end of the elections. And we thought we instilled that in our colleagues.”
Factions within the APNU+AFC had other ideas. They opted for legal action rather than allowing for the counting of the ballots to be the end of the matter.
Elections are supposed to be decided at the polls, not in the courtroom. They are supposed to be determined by votes cast, not legal arguments. Once you accept this basic premise, there is no need to revert to laws.
In my lifetime, I have been to thousands of cricket matches, and I have never seen an umpire having to take out a rulebook to make a decision. Players have generally played by the rules, even when they do not agree with a decision made by the umpires when on field or off field.
And the reason why Guyana’s 2020 elections ended up in the Court system is because one side was not prepared to accept the democratic will of the people. You can twist it and turn it however you want, but one side did not wish to play by the rules. It wanted to create its own rules so that it could be declared the winner.
There is a fundamental issue which is at stake. If during a cricket match, one side does not have any intention to play by the rules, then it is only logical that that side should not be allowed to participate because it will make a mockery of the contest.
This is the dilemma facing the country. If the APNU+AFC is not prepared to accept the democratic will of the people, then it should not be allowed to participate in any future elections because it has not shown the sincerity in respecting the people’s decision.
The fact of the matter is that all of Guyana’s electoral problems have revolved around the failure of the PNC/R, the main party of the APNU, to accept the outcome of elections. It has a notorious and disgraceful record dating back to 1968 of rigging elections and doing so in the most transparent and incompetent of manner.
The EU Observer Mission has made a number of recommendations concerning the consolidation of the country’s electoral laws so to ensure clarity and certainty. But even as it does so, the Observers accept that there were attempts to pervert the results of the elections.
The country’s electoral laws are not the problem. Cheating is the problem and consolidating laws is not going to stop the cheating. Given Guyana’s history of rigged elections between 1968 and 1985 inclusive, serious consideration has to be given to a Commission of Inquiry into what went on after the polls had closed.
And when the report of that Commission is in, it will become much clearer that the problem is not with our electoral laws. You can strengthen the laws as much as you can but if one side wants to cheat, then cheat it will because cheating represents disregard for the laws.
What took place between 2nd March and 2nd October indicates that the APNU+AFC wanted to become a law unto itself. It is for this reason that a decision has to be made as to whether any political party which refuses to accept the will of the people, should be debarred from future participation in elections.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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