International Community pressures GECOM to proceed with declarations

Georgetown: In the aftermath of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruling on Wednesday, Acting Assistant Secretary for the US Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Michael Kozak, tweeted: “The @CaribbeanCourt had ruled. It is time for #GECOM to declare the winner of Guyana’s election based on the national recount vote.”

(Left) Michael G. Kozak, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the U.S. State Department and (Right) Michael Grant, Canada’s Assistant Deputy Minister for the Americas

Kozak stated that “The will of Guyana’s voters cannot be ignored.”

The US State Department has supported the ruling handed down by the CCJ and called on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to declare the winner of the March 2, 2020 Election using the recount figures.

The recount figures show that the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) won the March 2 polls with 233,336 valid votes while the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition trailed behind with 217,920 valid votes.

Those figures saw a recount, which tipped in the opposition’s favour, and as such, Dr. Irfaan Ali as the country’s next president.

It has been more than four months since the elections with Guyana in limbo and facing the negative impacts of COVID-19.

Additionally, Michael Grant, Canada’s Assistant Deputy Minister for the Americas noted the important ruling from the CCJ in a tweet.

“It’s time for the election results to be announced by #GECOM based on the recount. No more delays.”

Prior to the CCJ’s ruling on Wednesday, diplomats heading the powerful ABCE countries met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Karen Cummings, emphasising that the results of the national recount must be used to declare a winner of the March 2 elections.

The meeting was requested by High Commissioner of Canada to Guyana Lilian Chatterjee, High Commissioner of the United Kingdom Greg Quinn, Ambassador of the United States Sarah-Ann Lynch and Ambassador of the European Union (EU) Fernando Ponz Cantó.

The diplomats at the meeting warned that there will be consequences if the results are not declared using tabulations from the national vote recount.

Following the CCJ’s ruling, the Chairman of GECOM Justice (rt’d) Claudette Singh called a meeting of the six politically divided Commissioners and the Chief Elections Officer which is set for 13:00h Thursday.