Georgetown: British High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn says the next democratically elected government in the aftermath of the March 2, 2020 general elections will have to pursue constitution reform and rule to the benefit of all Guyanese.
Guyana attained independence from Britain on 26th May, 1966.
“Whoever takes charge will have to rule for the benefit of every Guyanese citizen, undertaking whatever constitutional reforms necessary to ensure that happens,” Quinn stated in a message to mark Guyana’s 54th Independence anniversary.
The British High Commissioner hoped that Guyana would “continue” along the path of development to the benefit of “each and every citizen as it should” after the general election results are declared.
“Guyana has a bright future, one which we look to see realised following the conclusion of the ongoing election recount process and the swearing in of a president on the basis of a credible election process,” Quinn said.
Meanwhile, United Kingdom (UK) Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab had offered Guyana to help resolve the election-related controversy over the vote count in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), the most populous of the country’s ten administrative regions.
“We stand ready to offer assistance to ensure a credible election result is produced,” he said in a statement.
Mr Raab’s full statement follows:
“The United Kingdom expresses deep concern about the events following the elections in Guyana on 2 March 2020.
We call upon the President to preserve the principle of free, fair and credible elections. Allegations of electoral fraud and premature declarations of victory prior to the completion of a credible process pose a grave threat to the democratic principles of Guyana.
We call upon President Granger to ensure that proper procedures are followed before embarking upon a transition of government.
We stand ready to offer assistance to ensure a credible election result is produced.”
Meanwhile, controversy surrounding the tabulation of votes for Region 4, the most populous district in Guyana, saw the country’s Chief Justice ordering that the process be redone in adherence with the constitution and in a manner that provided for full transparency in the presence of contesting party representatives and other stakeholders.
Contesting parties and several local and international observer groups have said that the process used to arrive at the final results for Region 4 lacked transparency and that any winner declared by such a process would not be legitimate.
Following the Chief Justice’s ruling, Regional Officer for Region 4, Clairmont Mingo – the person responsible for tabulating the votes – in a redo of the process did not allow for full scrutiny of the Statements of Poll which are the documents from which the total votes for each polling station in the district are derived from. Stakeholders accused Mingo of using bogus figures in an effort to arrive at a declaration that favoured the incumbent APNU+AFC coalition party.
Coalition party officials have said that there was no wrong-doing on the part of Mingo. However, two smaller parties in the APNU arm of the coalition have since come out in support of a recount.
The country’s President, David Granger, who maintains he is committed to transparency and stands by the rule of law, had invited a team from regional body CARICOM to supervise a full recount of the votes as a final solution to the elections impasse.
However, on arrival the team was unable to proceed as planned after a candidate in the APNU+AFC coalition party which the President leads, moved to the court to block the recount, arguing it was not in keeping with the constitution.
In the aftermath the recount is currently taking place as GECOM seeks to extend the deadline to complete the process which was supposed to last 25 days.
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