See full statement:
The International Center for Democracy is deeply concerned with the recent announcement by the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) proposed plan of One Hundred and Fifty Six (156) days to conduct recounts for the ballots from the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections. The No Confidence Motion (NCM) that was passed in the Guyana parliament in December 2018 constitutionally required that General Elections must be held within ninety (90) days. The General Elections was delayed for over one year. The CEO for GECOM played an integral role in this delay. For an entire year Guyana was governed by a caretaker government.
On March 2, 2020 Guyanese went to the polls to cast their votes with the hope of having a voice to choose a President and Government for their country. Instead of their votes being counted and their voices being heard the nation is still at a standstill without a duly elected President and Government. Just like the NCM where the current regime remained in office for an entire year without Elections being held the current regime again has remained in office but this time under blatant illegal maneuvers by a few senior GECOM staff that resulted in no final Election declaration.
Every International and Local Observer Group, ABCE countries, CARICOM and the world at large openly witnessed and issued press statements condemning the declaration of the Region 4 results as fraudulent, lacked fairness and transparency. Mr. Keith Lowenfield, Mr. Clairmont Mingo, and Ms. Roxanne Myers are all senior GECOM staff that were accused of being the masterminds in manipulating the Statement of Polls (SOPs) for Region 4 and making fraudulent Elections declaration in favor of the APNU / AFC. The Chairwoman for GECOM, the Honorable Retired Judge Claudette Singh, did not intervene when this fraudulent declaration was made and moreover was not seen or heard from until several days thereafter, this was indeed a gross dereliction of Madam Chair duties and responsibilities.
The ICD demands that Madam Chair Claudette Singh take full responsibility to prepare and present to the Commission and all political parties a schedule for an expeditious recount.
The ICD demands that the recount must be conducted in the presence of representative from all competing parties, International and Local Observers, CARICOM and other international representatives. The ICD demands that the new timetable for the recount must be discussed and agreed upon by all competing parties.
The ICD demands that the proposed One Hundred and Fifty Six (156) days timeframe proposed by CEO Lowenfield be rejected. The ICD demands that because of the dishonesty, lack of trust, failure to be impartial and political biased displayed by Mr. Lowenfield, Mr. Mingo and Ms. Myers that they all be relieved from their duties forthwith and should not have anything to do with the recount process.
The ICD, International and Local Observer Groups, ABCE countries, CARICOM and other countries representatives world wide will be paying close attention to ensure that the GECOM Chairwoman Claudette Singh execute her duties and responsibilities that was bestowed upon her by the Constitution of Guyana and by the people of Guyana to ensure that the recount of the ballots are done in a free, fair and transparent manner within the shortest possible timeframe, not to be misguided or misled by any political parties and or staff within GECOM and to ensure that the three senior GECOM staff mentioned above are immediately relieved of their duties and responsibilities. Restoring Democracy in Guyana and the swearing in of a democratically elected President and Government is what all of Guyana and the world at large is looking forward to.
