Citing the absence of an ongoing electoral process, the decline in the security environment, and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the US-based Carter Center’s election observation mission has departed Guyana.
The Center, which launched its observer mission for the March 2, 2020 general and regional elections here on January 14, has indicated its willingness to return when the electoral process resumes and has also issued a call for constitutional reform.
“The Carter Center made the difficult decision to have the team leave Guyana earlier today [Friday] after weighing a combination of factors, including the absence of an ongoing electoral process, increasing restrictions on international travel because of COVID-19, and the decline in the security environment in Guyana,” the organisation said in a statement yesterday.
“In light of the current injunction and subsequent legal process, there is not currently electoral activity for The Carter Center to observe. The security environment in Georgetown has declined in the wake of the impasse created by the non-transparent tabulation process in Region 4. International observers have been harassed, and protestors supportive of the APNU+AFC coalition have at times blocked international observers from doing their work. Specific threats have also been made against the international community that are unacceptable and further undermine the credibility of the electoral process,” the statement said.
Almost three weeks after the March 2 polls, official results are yet to be declared by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) with the contentious count of the Region Four vote decried as flawed by a number of stakeholders, including international observers. Several matters related to the tabulation and declaration have been filed in court with one challenging a recount heard yesterday.
On Tuesday, a high-level team from the Carib-bean Community (CARICOM) that was due to oversee a recount of votes cast at the polls departed Guyana as a court order blocked GECOM from proceeding although both President David Granger and Opposition Leader Bharrat had Jagdeo agreed to the process.
In its statement yesterday, the Carter Center said that its decision to withdrawn its electoral experts and international observers from Guyana was made after careful consideration. “The Center remains committed to promoting democracy and constitutional reform in Guyana and is willing to return when the electoral process resumes, assuming international travel is feasible,” it said.
The Center added that it hopes that conditions will be in place for CARICOM to return to Guyana to supervise a national re-count. It noted GECOM’s willingness to support the recount under CARI-COM’s supervision and expressed appreciation for the measures taken to make that happen. Recalling that both Granger and Jagdeo agreed to the recount process, and “GECOM was satisfied with its legality,” the Center said that it hopes that any remaining legal issues hindering the recount can be addressed quickly to avoid further delaying a satisfactory resolution to the electoral process.
Disrupt
The Center also reiterated its previous observation of the electoral process, which it said, began well.
According to the statement, the polling the Center observed on March 2 was well-administered and reflected international standards for democratic elections. The process was sound and capable of delivering results that credibly reflect the will of the people, the statement said, adding that tabulation was well-conducted in nine of 10 regions.
However, it said, in Region Four – by far the largest region – “the credibility of the tabulation process deteriorated when, after some delay, results were announced before the region’s full results were transparently tabulated in the presence of party scrutineers and observers.” As a result, the statement said, the Carter Center and other international election observation groups denounced these results as not credible.
“The environment at the GECOM office where the tabulation was being conducted for Region 4 was at times chaotic because of the large number of persons present and the efforts by PPP/C representatives and others to disrupt the declaration of results. Unfortunately, when that process was resumed following litigation and a court order, it still did not comply with expectations set by Guyana’s chief justice and failed to meet international standards. As such, the tabulation process in Region 4 continued to lack credibility,” the Center declared.
It expressed hope that the electoral process can still be concluded “with credible results and that the will of the Guyanese people – as expressed at the polls on March 2 – will be carried out.”
Reform
Beyond the election, the statement said, the Carter Center “continues to believe that Guyana’s winner-takes-all system is in need of reform and encourages all parties to commit to national reconciliation and to completing key constitutional reforms in the near future.”
Saying that it has conducted its “nonpartisan” international election observation work at the invitation of the government of Guyana and in accordance with the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observers, the Carter Center expressed its thanks to the government for extending an invitation to international election observation organisations. It also thanked GECOM Chair-person Claudette Singh “for her welcome and openness,” adding that she has, “thus far, shown great personal commitment to achieving a credible election process.”
The Carter Center said that it remains committed to its mandate to observe the entirety of the electoral process and remains on standby to return to Guyana.
The Carter Center first became involved in Guyana in the early 1990s at the invitation of President Desmond Hoyte with the March 2 elections being the fifth that it has observed here since 1992.
