PM Nagamootoo condemns statements by Dr. Ralph Gonsalves

—“untimely and highly prejudicial”

DPI, Guyana, Friday, June 12, 2020

Prime Minister, Hon Moses Nagamootoo has condemned the remarks made about Guyana’s electoral process by incoming CARICOM Chair and Prime Minister of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves.

During a recent interview, Prime Minister Nagamootoo described Dr. Gonsalves’ comments as “premature, untimely and highly prejudicial and could contribute to the charged situation in Guyana.”

On Thursday, Dr. Gonsalves has called on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to declare a winner of the march 2, General and Regional Elections based on the figures from the first phase of the recount.

His statements come at the time when the commission is currently involved in a four-stage process that seeks to determine the credibility of the elections.

Prime Minister Nagamootoo added that the comments are “very disappointing coming from someone who should have known better,” explaining that Dr. Gonsalves is aware that a team from CARICOM has scrutinized the process and is currently in the process of preparing their report.

“They (CARICOM team) should be allowed to be uninfluenced and report what they observed during the recount process in Guyana.”

As such, the Prime Minister remarked that Dr. Gonsalves’ utterances “are highly prejudicial,” and urged him to retract his statements.

The current recount is comprised of four stages which are according to a gazetted order 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.

This report is expected to be submitted on or before June 13, to the elections commission for review.