United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, today, commended the Court system in Guyana for paving the way to ensure that there is a credible recount of the votes cast in the March 2, General and Regional Elections.
During a media briefing today, the top US official said the United States intends to work with the various stakeholders including the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and the International Observers to ensure that the process is fair and transparent.
“I also like to commend Guyana’s High Court for clearing the way for a nationwide recount in that country’s recent national elections as well. We look forward to working with the Elections Commission and International Observer community to ensure that that process if free, fair and transparent”, Pompeo said.
Following the controversy surrounding the declaration of questionable results for District Four, the US Government had warned that; “individuals who seek to benefit from electoral fraud and form illegitimate Government, [or] regimes will be subject to a variety of serious consequences from the United States.”
Speaking at an earlier media conference on South American affairs, Secretary Pompeo had told reporters “The United States is closely monitoring the tabulation of votes in Guyana.”
According to the US’ Secretary of State, his country joins with the Organisation of American States (OAS), Commonwealth, the European Union (EU) and “and other democratic partners in calling for an accurate count”.
The threat of individual sanctions by Secretary Pompeo was made amidst allegations of gerrymandering tactics being laid against the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to delay or interfere with the tabulation of the elections results.
Several observer groups, in addition to a number of political parties contesting the 2020 Elections, have lamented a lack of transparency in the process, with at least one set of results declared being thrown out by the courts and a second declaration being set aside in favour of a recount.
GECOM is expected to proceed with the recount soon and the CARICOM high-level team will again be invited to observe the process.
