Dear Editor,
We, citizens of Guyana, demand our fundamental rights to free and fair elections with our votes counted in a transparent and credible manner be immediately restored.
Nine electoral districts have had the people’s votes counted at the place of poll and Statements of Poll (SOPs) posted publicly outside the polling stations. The returning officers from these districts tabulated the votes and submitted verified results to GECOM and they were then duly publicly declared. All nine districts conducted the process credibly in this simple, lawful way.
Yet day after day, week after week, we have been deprived of an elections result that should have followed from the same simple, transparent and credible process for District 4 as was followed for all the other nine districts. The Chief Election Officer, the GECOM secretariat, the chairperson of GECOM and the GECOM commissioners are responsible for this unprecedented and disgraceful state of affairs. GECOM personnel are handsomely paid by us to conduct elections in a free and impartial manner in keeping with the Representation of the People Act and the Constitution of Guyana, yet we have waited over 50 days for a credible election result: this is utterly unacceptable by any standard.
We remind the de facto government and all political parties of Article 9 of the Constitution “… sovereignty belongs to the people…”. Sovereignty belongs to us, the people, who exercise it through representatives whom we elect in free, fair and credible elections. We deplore that our votes are being treated in this undemocratic and arrogant manner by what the prime minister of Barbados and current chairperson of CARICOM has referred to as ‘forces that do not want to see the votes recounted’. This comment was made specifically in relation to the District 4 recount.
A full recount of all votes cast in all 10 districts has been agreed upon by the two main parties and GECOM. We believe that this is totally unnecessary – GECOM should simply have verified and tabulated the SOPs for District 4 and we call upon GECOM to do this without delay and in any event before starting the recount – and another delaying tactic, which will almost inevitably lead to further delays and machinations to scuttle credible elections results. It is already 3 weeks since the recount was agreed yet virtually nothing has happened since then!
We call on the chairperson of GECOM to immediately take all necessary steps to have the recount started and completed in the shortest possible time and to engage experts capable of arranging for live transmission of the recount, enlisting the assistance of the media as necessary.
The presence of international observers is essential and we welcome the return of the CARICOM team and other observers, including the OAS, the Commonwealth and the Carter Center, all of which have indicated their availability.
We have followed the attempts to thwart our fundamental right to a credible count of our votes and we demand that those in GECOM who have blatantly compromised this process in District 4 be prohibited from involvement in the recount process.
We believe that the sooner we have a credible result, the sooner a new democratically elected government can be put in place and the better Guyana will be able to tackle COVID-19 and all the resulting challenges.
We believe that the shameful events since March 2 have highlighted the need for the restructuring of GECOM and a change in our system of governance for all parties to have a seat at the decision-making table.
We say no to rigged elections, no to rigged counting of votes and no to further insults to our intelligence by those intent on thwarting the will of the Guyanese people.
Yours faithfully,
Vanda Radzik
Karen de Souza
Donald Rodney
Alissa Trotz
Denise Dias
Josephine Whitehead
Danuta Radzik
Rev Patricia Sheerattan Bisnauth
John Mair
Gem Madhoo
Muhammad Alli
Marilyne Trotz
Krysta Bisnauth
Ferlin Pedro
Ria Bisnauth
Aisha Fraites
Patricia Fredericks
Rose Ann Vieira
Elizabeth Tucker
Darshanie Rohit
Joseph Boatswain
Hansraji Camacho
Tyrone Camacho
Harry Da Costa
Vidya & Randy Outar
Kevin & Barbara Lopes
Anthony Cummings
Shako Dhanraj
Ayo Dalgety-Dean
Hollis France
Leila Jagdeo
Nadia Sagar
Daphne Kersting
Sabine McIntosh
Brian & Pam O’Toole
Roy Beepat
Colleen Carpenter
Michelle Kenyon
Gordon Forte
Melanie McTurk
Ohene Koama
Kathleen Whalen
Marie Anne Cholmondeley
Abbyssinian Carto
Colin Edwards
Janette Bulkan
Arif Bulkan
Clairmont Lye
