EVER since the declaration of the General and Regional Elections 2015, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has been agitating for a “general recount” of all the ballot boxes, and the resignation of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman, Dr. Steve Surujbally. Protests have been organized and carried out in front the Guyana Elections Commission offices countrywide, numerous press conferences have been called, letters have been sent to the press, and slanderous statements are being made on at least one radio station, all calling for the resignation of the GECOM Chairman, Dr. Steve Surujbally.

In refusing to accept the results of the 2015 General and Regional Elections, the PPP has taken to creating myths and legends about why it lost power after 23 years in office. Resurrecting the dark past about rigged elections seems to be the only game in town for the PPP – or at least some members of the PPP – who seem bent on misleading their supporters into believing the absurdity that the 2015 General and Regional Elections were rigged by GECOM, in collusion with the APNU+AFC.
All stakeholders, including the PPP, know that the 2015 General and Regional Elections were conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner. The International Observer Missions that the then PPP-led Government invited to observe the elections, all reported positively on the professional manner with which GECOM conducted and managed Elections 2015. Yet, amidst all of the positive reactions to GECOM by these credible and longstanding international observer teams, the PPP obstinately thinks that the 2015 General and Regional Elections were somehow rigged by GECOM.
Now it seems as if the PPP has decided in a very bizarre manner, that the reason for its 2015 electoral loss lies squarely at the feet of the GECOM Chairman. This quantum leap in reasoning is inexplicable.
Dr. Steve Surujbally has presided over three Elections in Guyana (2006, 2011 and 2015); all of which have been peaceful. He is also the longest serving Head of an Election Management Body (EMB) in this hemisphere, and is well known and respected throughout the international electoral management fraternity. Dr. Surujbally himself being the consummate professional has presided over the growth and development of GECOM, and is responsible for shaping it into the professional and efficient agency it is today.
To try to besmirch the professional character of the GECOM Chairman, and by extension the hard working staff at GECOM by making spurious claims about rigged elections, is not only imprudent, but demonstrates an inane disrespect for professionalism and the free, fair and transparent functioning of a democratic process – Elections.
GECOM granted the PPP all the recounts it requested that were within reason. Those recounts yielded no numerical changes to the final results declared by GECOM. And the GECOM Chairman had absolutely nothing to do with the tabulation of results, or any of the other technical aspects of the conduct and management of Elections 2015.
Dr. Surujbally has served this nation with uncompromised professionalism and integrity, and should be allowed the dignity and respect he has earned throughout his long and accomplished professional career. That known pedophiles, belligerent alcoholics and career cinema ruffians can shout for the resignation of the GECOM Chairman because of some misguided and unproven suspicions, then I strongly believe that equally, the GECOM Chairman should remain steadfast at the helm of GECOM and his proven track record of astute management, and further shape the Agency into becoming a world-class Electoral Management Body.

K. WILLIAMS