Georgetown: CARICOM Secretary-General Irwin LaRocque stands behind the report produced by the high-level CARICOM team which scrutinized Guyana’s election recount on March 2 while noting the results of the recount reflects the will of the people and that should be used by the Guyana Elections Commission in its declaration.
The Ambassador was at the time presenting opening remarks at the 20th Special Meeting of CARICOM to hand over the chairmanship from Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley to Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
He noted that upholding democracy is an important part of protecting the reputation of CARICOM states.
“We have been grappling with an ongoing electoral crisis in Guyana as we sought to maintain the reputation of the community as a bastion of democracy,” the Secretary-General noted.
Further LaRocque said “I want to take this opportunity to thank the independent CARICOM observer team to the recount of the Guyana general and regional elections for their personal sacrifice to answer the call to service. The team was in Guyana, by invitation, and spent 46 days during the pandemic. I have every confidence in the work they have produced.”
The 46-day recount process was scrutinized by Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Ms Cynthia Barrow-Giles; Commissioner of the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission, Mr John Jarvis; and SVG Deputy Supervisor of Elections, Mr Sylvester King.
The team which was put together by former Chairperson of CARICOM Mia Mottley submitted its report in which it stated that the figures of the recount are acceptable to declare a winner of the elections.
The recount showed that the Opposition People’s Progressive Party won the elections by more than 15,000 votes.
However, the results were not accepted by the incumbent and the Chief Elections Officer later submitted a report dumping 115,000 votes on the basis of irregularities and giving the incumbent a victory.
This CEO was blasted by Mottley for his decision after which she was accused of intervening in Guyana’s internal matters.
However, on Friday, the CARICOM Secretary-General made it clear that the body has never intervened in Guyana’s ongoing electoral process without invitation.
“CARICOM’s involvement in the situation in Guyana has always been by invitation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Incoming Chairman of CARICOM, St, Vincent and the Grenadines, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves criticised those who appeared opposed to the regional grouping seeking to preserve democracy in Guyana in keeping with the Charter of Civil Society.
He hailed outgoing Chairman of CARICOM Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s work on assisting to preserve democracy in Guyana “despite unwarranted, vulgar and opportunistic criticisms of her from a certain jaundiced sources who ought to know better.”
Gonsalves was virtually condemned by Chairman of A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change, Joseph Harmon for saying that President David Granger must accept the results of the national vote recount and that he “should take his licks like a man.” Granger subsequently endorsed Harmon’s position as one that reflects the coalition’s and the Guyana government’s.
For her part, Mottley on Monday again expressed concern that there appeared to be efforts at stalling Guyana’s long-outstanding general and regional elections.
“We trust and pray that we are in a position as a family to work together but we cannot ignore principles when it is inconvenient to stand by them,” she told the opening of the CARICOM Summit,” she said.
Mottley restrained herself from delving into details about Guyana’s political landscape, only saying that the regional organisation awaits next Wednesday’s decision by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on an appeal of a Guyana Court of Appeal decision on what constitutes “valid votes” by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).
Mottley added that “it is regrettable that there is still no clarity as to the conclusion of that electoral process.”
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