The behaviour of Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, in which he persists in submitting concocted figures to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for final declaration is “the most disgraceful act” to have ever occurred in the post independent Caribbean.
This is according to former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, who, at the time, was being hosted by regional broadcaster, CARIBUPDATE NEWS.
“What you are seeing here is perhaps the most disgraceful act or episode ever occurring in the political history of post-independent Caribbean.
“In simple language, it is a group of persons who have lost an election and are refusing to relinquish government in accordance with the laws and in accordance with the democratic will of the people expressed through the ballots on March 2,” Nandlall told viewers on Monday.
CEO Lowenfield has blatantly refused to carry out the directive of Chairperson, Justice (Rtd) Claudette Singh to use the certified recount results as the basis to prepare his report for final declaration, as ordered by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
In fact, on several occasions, he presented questionable numbers which sought to hand a false victory to David Granger’s APNU/AFC Coalition.
Calls have since been mounted from several quarters for Lowenfield to be dismissed in order for a new CEO to be appointed and to be directed to produce a credible report so that the elections results could be declared.
When asked what are the options available to the Commission at the moment in moving the process forward, Nandlall responded that Lowenfield is subject to the direction of the Commission, and as such he cannot prepare a report for final declaration without the blessings of the Commission.
“Lowenfield is an agent of the Commission. And he can be dismissed by the Commission, if he fails to carry out the direction of the Commission,” he argued.
“Imagine if returning officers were to prepare a report by themselves that is different from the franchise expressed at the ballot box, then you might as well abolish elections in our country and just go to a chief elections officer and get him to declare you the government,” Nandlall fumed.
“It’s like any other officer, if you have failed to carry out your functions, or if you perform those functions illegally, then that’s just cause for dismissal. And we are calling for Lowenfield to be dismissed,” he added.
According to the Attorney, the APNU/AFC is calling for Lowenfield’s latest report to be used as the basis for a declaration although the whole world knows “it is tainted with crude and vulgar fraud”.
Nandlall posited that it is almost five months now since “this grouping of people have been trying to steal an entire government, and they are not giving up”.
In response to threats of sanctions by International Powers, Nandlall said that it is his party’s hope that such actions will be aimed at individuals and not the entire country since ordinary Guyanese will suffer if this were to happen.
The national recount has shown that the PPP/C won the elections with 233,336 votes while the APNU/AFC coalition garnered 217,920.
Among other decisions, the CCJ ruled on Wednesday that the Chief Elections Officer must produce a final elections report for declaration as ordered by the GECOM Chair using the recount figures.
The CCJ also ruled that Lowenfield’s report which arbitrarily disenfranchised voters was invalid and that the concerns raised by the APNU/AFC coalition must be addressed in an elections petition.
