Echoing their findings that the electoral process went smoothly, envoys from the United States, United Kingdom and Canada and the local Private Sector Commission (PSC) yesterday appealed for patience as the nation awaits the official results of Monday’s general and regional elections.
The group on Monday observed the electoral process in Essequibo, Berbice, Linden and Georgetown and all said they were satisfied with the process. The group had left the city at around 9 am and travelled to Skeldon in Berbice, Anna Regina in the Essequibo and Linden in Region Ten where they observed the polling process.
“As at 3:05PM, we have seen nothing to affect the credibility of the process,” United States Embassy Charge d’Affaires Bryan Hunt told a press conference in the boardroom of the PSC.
He stressed that “patience is the watchword” as he urged Guyanese to give the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) the time it needs to effectively tabulate the statements of polls from the polls and officially declare a winner.
Hunt reminded the populace that it was only Gecom that could officially declare a winner and that the western missions believed that the electoral body was doing all it could to ensure an efficient process.
High Commissioner of Canada Dr Nicole Giles pointed to the country’s logistics, while explaining that it is difficult to have all the results very soon given the many remote hinterland locations.
Nonetheless, Giles said, the group believes that the elections were “smooth, credible, free and fair” and also commended the populace for the large voter turnout and orderly behaviour during the voting process. “Practice patience. It takes a while to deliver official results and we need to give Gecom the time and space to do that,” Giles urged.
British High Commissioner Greg Quinn pointed out that if political parties felt disenfranchised, they had legal recourse through the judicial system to address this. “If people think there are problems, there is a judicial process to be followed,” Quinn said.
He urged political parties to “encourage their supporters to accept the results of the process.”
PSC Chairman Ramesh Persaud also lauded Gecom for its work and stressed patience as the body brings official results and an eventual declaration.
“We are happy that a lot of time was taken to ensure accuracy… once Gecom has enough information they will let us know at the rightful time,” he said.
