THERE is no doubt that the General and Regional elections were massively rigged. The Chief Elections Officer reportedly admitted that over 40 SoPs were faked and therefore not authentic GECOM SoPs. This alone is an indictment that the elections were rigged in favour of the PNC+APNU+AFC. Thus, it is necessary for democracy, that GECOM recounts all the ballot boxes.

From the inception, the PPP/C General Secretary has been preaching and demanding, given past experiences, that those employed by GECOM to manage the elections, that their names be publicised so that the public could have some confidence in the process. This did not happen and the result is disastrous as we now see.

It is very troubling that despite irrefutable evidence of mass rigging, the US, Canada and British envoys continued to maintain that the elections were free and fair. This is not surprising as the blatant historical interference by the USA and the British, especially in the past few years, seemed to be a well-orchestrated plan that continued until now. These envoys openly and deliberately got involved in the internal politics but did cautiously, without stirring up any major reaction.

This disguised interest in the welfare of the Guyanese people by the ABC envoys was allowed to go unchallenged. And yes, they are really not interested in the welfare of Guyanese. They are more interested in maintaining Guyana’s economic dependence on the West. The ABC envoys do not want Guyana et al to deviate and foster economic relations with such countries as China and India. Really, if the envoys of the ABC group were really interested in democracy, they would have advocated, given the evidence available, that GECOM conduct a recount of the ballot boxes.

Unfortunately for the people of Guyana, but fortunately for the ABC countries, the false, disguised sense of caring for the welfare of the people, allowed for the development over the past few years, of a sense of respect which legitimizes the interference in the internal politics of the country, thus providing them with a sense of entitlement to make such outrageous statements that the elections were free.

The observers went around the country and saw huge lines of Guyanese waiting to vote, but they did not see the counting of the ballots; the stuffing of the ballot boxes and the fake SoPs. They did not see or maybe they refuse to see and hear about threats, assaults, intimidation and eviction of PPP/C agents.

If they are really interested in the welfare of Guyanese then they ought to call upon and not pressure GECOM to prematurely release results but to have a recount of all the ballot boxes. Failure to do so will forever blemish the good work of Observer Teams that are so important for democracy.

Finally, I want to encourage my fellow Guyanese who reside in the ABC countries to e-mail, fax and make phone calls to President Barack Obama; Stephen Harper and the British Prime Minister; your Senators/Congress Representatives; MPs as well as Opposition representatives, urging them to demand that their envoys request and support GECOM in the recounting of the ballots boxes. Failure to support a recount should be followed by a demand for the recall of these envoys.

CARL BASSOO