Crossing the line

THIS past week has been especially eventful for our country as we continue to make sense of the aftermath of the March 2 election. Since that date, Guyana has seen the worst of our political culture as forces in the society seek to manufacture an outcome of the election that does not represent the democratic will of all Guyanese. We have also witnessed attempts by external forces to cross the line with regard to Guyana’s sovereignty in the name of preservation of electoral democracy.

The combination of those two developments amounts to placing our country under siege from within and without. The week began with the completion of the recount after five weeks of activity against the background of a Recount Order that was duly gazetted. Although the order signed by all the parties was pellucid that the objective of the exercise was to determine the credibility of the elections, the PPP ignored that objective and declared itself  winner of the elections based on a preliminary tabulation. That party then proceeded to make utterings, including threats to supporters of its rival, the APNU+AFC Coalition, as if it were the officially declared winner of the election.

This induced panic in the society as citizens sought to clarify the truth of the situation. What is worse is that sections of the local media repeated the PPP’s narratives in bold headlines which were then shared across the wider Caribbean and internationally. GECOM, the only body with the power to declare the winner of a general election was forced to put out a public statement assuring the Guyanese people that no winner was declared. The APNU+AFC coalition and other independent forces reiterated GECOM’s message.

One must ask the obvious question: why has the PPP been so eager to prematurely crown itself a winner of these elections? This publication has drawn the conclusion, that, that party along with its domestic and foreign allies are determined to hide the tonne of evidence that points in the direction of systematic fraud committed on and before elections day by agents of the PPP. It is also trying to influence the deliberations at GECOM and the report of the CARICOM observation team.

The APNU+AFC Coalition claims that it has unearthed almost 8,000 instances of anomalies and irregularities involving multiple aspects of the electoral machinery. It  has concluded that these infractions which affect as many as 257, 153 votes, representing  more than half of the votes found in the boxes. While the Coalition has been calling on GECOM to investigate these findings, the PPP has been either trying to deny their existence or to argue that they can only be used as evidence in an elections petition.

We are satisfied that GECOM, having agreed to a recount that went beyond a simple count of the votes in the boxes, is bound by its own gazetted order to give maximum weight to these findings before an official declaration. That it set itself the objective of determining the credibility of the elections within a legal framework, binds it to the findings of that exercise. The PPP’s attempts to sidestep this aspect of the process is an extension of the fraud it has been fingered in since March 2. Guyana, including the electoral contestants, must  await the report by GECCOM’s CEO and the subsequent deliberations by the commission before an official declaration.

When we thought that the PPP’s false declaration had taken the cake, St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves decided to jump into the fray. In a clear departure from accepted protocol regarding the internal affairs in CARICOM member-states, he proceeded to directly threaten Guyana that failure to declare a winner based on the tabulation of the recount would trigger action by CARICOM. While he did not specify what action would be taken, it is clear from his tone that he has chosen a side in the ongoing impasse.

Dr. Gonsalves’ threat is not in isolation. This publication has editorialised many times before on the naked attempt by foreign observers and the diplomatic community to become overly involved in the elections process. We feel that they have crossed the line to the point of direct interference in our affairs, which can only be seen as an attack on our sovereignty. Now Dr. Gonsalves has joined two former regional prime ministers in mimicking the representatives of the larger countries. But Dr Gonsalves has done something else. He may have wittingly or unwittingly been trying to influence the report of the CARICOM observation team which includes a Vincentian.

We endorse the pushback by the government of Guyana and the leadership of the APNU+AFC. There should be no place for such behaviour as exhibited by the prime minister. Guyana has never in its long association with its Caribbean neighbours engaged in  interference in their internal affairs. It is not out of place to demand the same respect for our sovereignty. To put it bluntly, Prime Minister Gonsalves has crossed the line. He is entitled to have his friends in Guyana, but he is not entitled to use his high CARICOM office to influence an election in Guyana in his friends’ favour. Like St. Vincent and the Grenadines, we cherish our independence and will always do what is correct and necessary to protect it. As a keeper of the flame of the Caribbean civilisation, Dr. Gonsalves knows better than his words exhibited this past week. We join the chorus in saying to the esteemed prime minister—stay out of Guyana’s business.

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