According to opposition-nominated member of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Sase Gunraj, the country is in a very precarious place which requires careful thinking and mature leadership.
“This is a call to all those who want to see Guyana progress free from sanctions and the fear of sanctions let your voices be heard and let good sense prevail,” he implored.
Speaking with reporters following an hours-long meeting of the commission Gunraj said the decision by CARICOM to withdraw its High Level Team has removed “the only opportunity we had to restore credibility to the process at GECOM.”
He explained that after being unable to function for two days and now faced with an injunction which would prevent them from functioning for two more days the team decided to depart Guyana.
Gunraj stressed that for him the team’s efforts were frustrated by dilatory tactics employed by the GECOM secretariat and their actions have now left the country in a very difficult place.
“It is time for right thinking and mature leadership,” he repeatedly stressed.
While agreeing that the current situation was not good for Guyana, government-nominated commissioner Vincent Alexander refused to lay blame on GECOM.
Speaking as a citizen of Guyana he said the situation is beyond the electoral situation.
“The root cause is beyond our electoral system…We have serious problems with our plurality, the distrust and quest for power from different segments,” he said.
Asked if GECOM’s operations over the last 15 days has built or broken trust between the various segments, Alexander said that the trust issue is way beyond GECOM.
Pushed to respond to Gunraj’s position that the commission and the secretariat are culpable in the delays he said that everyone is entitled to an opinion but that he did not share that opinion.
The seven-member commission which is tasked with the “general direction and supervision over the registration of electors and the administrative conduct of all elections” spent in excess of eight hours discussing the “the legal ramifications” of the agreement brokered by CARICOM to facilitate a “total recount” the votes cast.
“While the Commission has considered the proposal and has implemented systems for the operationalization of the exercise; as a safeguard mechanism, it is necessary for all the legal issues to be properly addressed including the gazetting of the process as requested by the high-level Caricom delegation. Once finalized, the counting would commence immediately,” a statement from GECOM spokesperson Yolanda Ward explained.
Several hours later another statement from Ward noted that the commission had been served with an interim injunction restraining the agency from proceeding with the national recount of votes cast and that the body is expected to appear in Court on Friday, 20th March, 2020.
It also stated that the high-level independent Caricom delegation had indicated that they would withdraw from the process.
The time between these two statements found the commission discussing a legal opinion received from the Chief Parlia-mentary Counsel from whom they had sought a draft of a possible gazetted order.
