APNU+ AFC campaign Co-Chairman Joseph Harmon yesterday said that the Organisation of American States (OAS) went into the “boundary” of “interference” when it declared that the National Recount will yield a credible result for the March 2nd general and regional elections.
“To preempt a ruling of the Chairman of the Elections Commission is, in my view, stepping beyond just international relations and is stepping into the boundary, in my view, of interference,” he said.
According to the former Minister of State, his party recognises the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and CARICOM as having the authority to pronounce on the results once the tabulation is completed.
“We recognise the Elections Commission as being the competent authority. We recognise the CARICOM mission that is there as the credible interlocutors in the affairs of Guyana and, therefore, we rely on those processes [not] other persons, who are sitting on the outskirts, observing things and making declarations, even while the process is still going on,” he declared.
On Thursday, a statement from the General Secretariat of the OAS said that a declaration based on the results of the nearly concluded recount would lead to the installation of a legitimate government.
The hemispheric body, which is a duly accredited observer of the 2020 elections, pointed out that its observers have been present at the recount centre each day and have reported that the review of the ballot boxes was conducted in a professional, transparent and impartial fashion.
They dismissed as normal “some inconsistencies in the electoral materials reviewed during the recount,” stating that the organisation has no reason to doubt that the results emanating from the recount will be credible.
Harmon, however, described such a position as “obnoxious”. He argued that his party has highlighted major issues that concern the credibility of this process.
“I want to make this very clear that what is taking place at the tabulation centre is a tabulation of those votes. So, when it is announced as valid, we have an objection to that because a valid vote is a vote which has been tabulated and which has gone through a process of assessment taking into consideration the observation and objections which has been made,” Harmon stated.
He argued that since his party has highlighted inconsistencies which amount to fraud it is going to be a challenge for the commission to come to a definitive position.
“The CARICOM team – I would say their report – will be persuasive because they have been brought here to oversee and to scrutinise the process and I suspect they, having been there for the entire period; they, like us, would have seen on a daily basis the genie that is emerging out of these boxes when they are opened,” he added, arguing that his party wants its objections to be addressed before a declaration so that the declared results can be considered valid.
“We want the Chairman of the Elections Commission to make an honest declaration of what is before her…What will emerge from the evidence that came from the recount must be the factors which the Chairman must take into consideration in making her determination,” he stressed.
APNU+AFC’s complaints during the recount have been dismissed as baseless by the main opposition PPP/C and other parties which contested the elections.
APNU+AFC has had a running battle with the head of the OAS observer mission at the elections, former Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding. The OAS Observation Mission withdrew on March 13 from the country, saying that the tabulation process for District Four was not transparent. It also warned then that the legitimacy of any government installed in these circumstances will be open to question.
On May 13th, Golding presented a preliminary report to the OAS Permanent Council in which he said that the recount process has exposed glaring instances where the figures presented by Returning Officer of Region Four, Clairmont Mingo, were clearly fiddled.
He gave a few instances accompanied by ballot box numbers to support his statement concerning the altering of the elections results.
“And permit me here to pause to make a comment. I have never seen a more transparent effort to alter the results of an election,” Golding said.
He was subsequently criticised by Harmon for this presentation.
