Coalition says statement by incoming CARICOM Chair could undermine the legitimacy of recount process
DPI, Guyana, Thursday, June 11,2020
The A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition has expressed concern with statements made the incoming Chairman of CARICOM Dr. Ralph Gonsalves; describing it as a taking a “prejudicial” stance on Guyana’s elections.
The APNU+AFC via a press statement said they were “surprised” at Dr. Gonsalves’s statement since the national recount process of votes cast in the March 2, General and Regional Elections, is still ongoing.
Dr. Gonsalves who is the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines has urged the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to declare a winner of the elections based on the figures from the first phase of the recount.
The recount is comprised of four stages.
However, the APNU+AFC in its statement highlighted that they are “concerned as the incoming Chair of CARICOM, Dr. Gonsalves has chosen to pronounce on a process that is still ongoing, and proposes to a direct constitutional body in another CARICOM Member State in the execution of its duties.”
The coalition reminded that the four-stage process which is gazetted was agreed to by all political parties and CARICOM.
The first stage of tabulating the votes recently concluded and the second stage is now in progress. That is the compilation of a matrix of the tabulated results along with a summary of the observation reports, by the Chief Elections Officer.
According to the coalition, the reports will highlight the 7,929 instances of irregularities which directly affected the validity of 257,173 votes.
Additionally, it was also pointed out that the CARICOM scrutineering team has not yet submitted a report of its findings as mandated by the gazetted order. This will then be followed by a review of the reports by the Elections Commission and finally a declaration of the results by the Chairperson of GECOM after having studied the report.
With that, the coalition further reminded that “the ongoing process is significant and important not only for democracy in Guyana but the wider CARICOM. It is expected that CARICOM leaders would refrain from any actions or utterances that could undermine the legitimacy of the process and its credible conclusion.”