President Granger disappointed in CARCIOM team’s withdrawal

—Committed to completion of electoral process

DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, March 18, 2020

His Excellency David Granger has expressed disappointment with the withdrawal of the high-level CARICOM observer team from Guyana’s electoral process.

In a statement issued yesterday, President Granger stated that the initiative was based on an understanding that a national recount of the ballots cast at the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections would be executed.

“The Initiative saw the arrival of a High-Level Team of five distinguished Caribbean professionals to oversee the process…the team, unfortunately, was unable to commence its task,” the President said.

The CARICOM team was chaired by the former Attorney-General and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Dominica Francine Baron and included Minister of Finance of Grenada Anthony Boatswain; Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government of UWI Cynthia Barrow-Giles; Chief Electoral Officer of Barbados Angela Taylor; and Chief Elections Officer of Trinidad and Tobago Fern Narcis-Scope.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court granted an injunction filed by a citizen preventing the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) from commencing a “‘total national recount.”

The Head of State said the court action “has curtailed further our thrust towards reaching a transparent conclusion to the 2020 General and Regional Elections.”

The matter will be heard in the Supreme Court on March 20, 2020.

President Granger maintained that he will abide by the decisions of the court and the Guyana Elections Commission.

“I iterate my commitment to the due completion of all electoral requirements and the conclusion of the process under the auspices of the Commission and in the interest of all Guyanese.”

He assured his commitment to the electoral process and the declaration of results by the Elections Commission in accordance with the law.