Georgetown: Hours after releasing her statement, CARICOM Chair, Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley said she is standing by the strong pronouncements made on Guyana’s political situation where she expressed concern over the actions of Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, in his attempt to scrap a total of 115, 844 votes cast in the March 2, 2020 elections.
In an interview on on Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) CNC3 News, Mottley said “we’ve said what we have said for now. We are watching the situation – The heads of government are particularly, particularly attuned to the fact that these situations are difficult.”
Adding that CARICOM is keeping a watchful eye on the situation, the Chair said the three-member CARICOM Observer Team was satisfied that the March 2 Election recount process was certified by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and stood as a credible basis for the declaration of results.
The outgoing CARICOM Cahir noted that the results presented are not what were used when the CEO used in his report to the GECOM Chair, Ret’d Justice Claudette Singh and the Commission.
“What is going on,” the Barbadian PM noted “is a little bizarre to say the least but we shall wait and see and let the process play out over the next few days but suffice it to say that there is a Charter of Civil Society within Caribbean Communities that causes us to have to aspire to a very high level of behaviour with respect to free and fair elections and with respect to giving full effect to the will of the people.”
No election, according to Mottley, is “worth the life of a single human being…there is no election that is worth damaging the reputation, not only of one country but our community.”
“The Caribbean has been one of those few regions that have seen people move from poverty, absolute abject poverty in the 1930’s where we had riots across almost every country to the point where we were well on our way to meeting many of the world’s sustainable development goals, going forward.
Obviously, we have had some difficulties but the reason why we have made such progress is because we have given such great stock to caring about people and building for people,” the Chair said.
The CARICOM Chairwoman posited that the continued developmental goals of CARICOM are “critical”, and their involvement in Guyana’s political situation emerges from their obligations to “stand for something” to achieve same.
But this cannot be done, according to her, “if our slip is showing.”
“The Caribbean Community must stand for something with respect to the pursuit of these goals and with respect to the pursuit of the values that have made us stand up as a beacon in the global community and to be able to speak truth to power when we need to speak truth to power.”
The elections were held on March 2, 2020 after several concerns were raised about a fraudulent tabulation of the votes in the largest voting district –Region Four –a national recount was done.
The recount figures show the opposition PPP won the elections with 233, 336 votes while the APNU+AFC received 217, 920 votes.
But the Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield has submitted a final report invalidating 115, 844 votes and giving the APNU+AFC a win of 5,482 votes.
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