Prime Minister of Barbados and Chair of the Caribbean Community, Mia Mottley, last evening defended her comments on the electoral situation in Guyana, where she blasted Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield for invalidating over 115,000 votes.
“We’ve said what we’ve said,” Mottley said during an interview last night on CNC3 in Trinidad.
“What is going on [in Guyana] is a little bizarre, to say the least, but we shall wait and see and let the process play out over the next few days,” she added.
Mottley, in an official statement yesterday, reminded that the CARICOM Observer Team, which was described as the “most legitimate interlocutor” by caretaker President David Granger, has deemed the recount exercise credible.
The CARICOM Chair reiterated that it should form the basis of a declaration.
Meanwhile, the Barbadian PM highlighted that there is a Charter of Civil Society within CARICOM that “causes us to have to aspire to a very high level of behaviour with respect to free and fair elections and with respect to giving full effect to the will of the people.”
“I pray that…there is no election worth the damaging of the reputation of not only one country but the Community,” Mottley expressed.
The Charter, adopted in 1992, speaks to the need for Member States to enhance public confidence in governance; ensure continuing respect for internationally recognised civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights; and to uphold the right of people to make political choices.
