After witnessing what could have been an overturning of democracy here, Canada has pledged further support to electoral reforms and is awaiting the government’s response, outgoing High Commissioner Lilian Chatterjee yesterday announced as she spoke about the events in the aftermath of the March 2nd polling, including a meeting where former president David Granger was told that Western countries would not accept the now discredited initial declaration that was intended to keep him in power.
The Canadian envoy, who is leaving Guyana shortly to take up the post of High Commissioner to Barbados from January, said that in her 17-year career as a diplomat she has never witnessed an elections filled with trauma and frustration as she did here and hopes to never again see a repeat at any of her future postings.
“Canada spent Cdn$1 million on your electoral process. We did three things. We funded the Carter Center. The chairperson needed elections expertise because she was new to this role… so we offered Jean Pierre Kingsley [former Chief Electoral Officer of Elections Canada] … and we supported the CARICOM team,” Chatterjee yesterday told Sunday Stabroek in an exit interview at her Bel Air Gardens residence.
