Georgetown: “It has been a difficult situation in this country since the No-Confidence motion. Life was never the same. Business was never the same. It is time Guyana gets that space to breathe and move forward. Guyana deserves that,” People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) presidential candidate, Dr. Irfaan Ali said after the recount was completed on Sunday.
On Day 33 of the recount of ballot exercise, the 2,339 boxes were completed with unofficial results showing the PPP won with 230,328 votes while the incumbent APNU+AFC total is 217,259.
The tabulation of the Statements of Recount (SORs) is still ongoing and it is expected to be completed Monday at the Arthur Chung Conference Center.
Once this process is completed, the recount of Region 4 will have to be certified and the Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield has three days to complete his report that will be handed over to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on or before June 13.
The incoming President said he when he is sworn in he would rely on policies and programmes of a development agenda for the benefit of all Guyanese.
Dr. Ali shrugged off questions about whether he supported executive power sharing.
“There is no model that tells you executive power sharing is superior to any other aspect of any inclusion. It is how do we include ideas, how do we make the Parliament better functioning, how do we make the Parliament better involved, how do we ensure that each arm of government manages and governs in the best interest of the people and how is it that we ensure the development agenda, the development priorities and the resources of our country are spent in a manner in which all Guyanese feel a part of and they benefit,” he said.
He continued: “I want to assure all Guyanese that as we move towards the next stage of having the report submitted and the declaration, we must act in a responsible manner, we must act in a manner that our countrymen and women expect us to act in as leaders. We have to be gracious to each other and we have to move forward in building this country and taking this country forward.”
Meanwhile, in anticipation of the incumbent filing court action against the results, Jagdeo said that this will only add “more trauma” to the Guyanese population.
“They will try to alter the will of the people. They’re testing people’s patience. Not just in Guyana but I think the international community too has been pushed to the limit. They’ve been very generous in urging all parties to work together but I think most of them know who the transgressors are,” Jagdeo said.
He, however, noted that the PPP will fight all the way to end. “So going to court will just delay the inevitable because I don’t see which court…the courts are indigenous. The judges organically live in our society and so they understand the dynamics and any sane person, a judge would look at all that has gone through, see the recount…see the results of the recount and then try and give APNU some injunction or something of the sort to block either the declaration or the swearing-in of the President.”
“I can’t see any objective judge doing that sort of thing and if they do, it will easily be overturned by a higher court…we will fight tooth and nail, all the way for democracy,” Jagdeo noted.
When asked if the PPP will consider executive power-sharing should it go back in office, Jagdeo said it is not that simple.
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