IN all civilised, rule by the law, countries of the world elections are held and the majority vote calls for a declaration of the winner. Guyana – at least up until recently – was considered a civilised country, but all of this changed after May 11th. The Guyana Elections Commission has declared a loser as the winner and would like us to accept that result. At the close of Monday’s poll all the parties contesting knew who had won the election, the Statement of Polls (SOP) clearly shows who won. And what is of greater significance, the winner has won by a wide margin that is by some 5 seats over the loser.
But in a strange but explainable twist, these figures were altered to show that the loser has won by a one seat majority. Hogwash! How could a loser automatically become a winner? It defies intelligence.
Whenever an election is so close – let us use their math – it is imperative that you carry out a recount of the ballots. This is standard procedure as is done all over the world including the mighty USA. It is important to carry out a recount. The question is why isn’t there a recount of the ballots cast on May 11th? What is there to hide? If Lowenfield is so sure that the coalition has won then prove to us with a recount? It has happened before right here in Guyana and all discrepancies were cleared up and the legitimate government was given the go ahead to rule.

What is clear for all to see is an election commission who has parted the winners vote and shared it with the loser for them to come out of this as winners. They are also making it to appear that President Ramotar is a “bad loser.” What I must tell these folks at GECOM is that this is not a situation of Mr. Ramotar; it is a situation where the will of the people has been stifled by a shameless Elections Commission. We deserve a right to know what happened to our votes.
So, it is not a Ramotar or Jagdeo thing; it is the people’s right to know and that is why we want a recount. We would not allow our democracy to be derailed by a bunch of losers.
What I am advocating is that the Government call in independent personnel from overseas to oversee a recount of the ballots. It seems that the locals here are adamant that there should not be a recount, so bring in independent people to do so on behalf of the people of this country. We are not yet about to give over our rights to bullies.

NEIL ADAMS