Dear Editor
It was 56 years ago on July 6 that someone loaded explosives in the Son Chapman vessel, killing many Afro-Guyanese who were returning from Georgetown to their homes in Linden. That incident, which some believe was instigated by foreign meddling, triggered the worst ethnic conflict in Guyana’s history. The wounds from that period never fully healed, and today another generation of Guyanese wonder whether foreign meddling in the Guyana 2020 elections will trigger a renewed ethnic conflict, inflicting new wounds and causing old wounds to start bleeding all over again.

Guyana’s election cycles have always included traces of ethnic tensions, but certainly not to the levels that we see today. Evidence show clearly that dishonest person or persons committed a massive and sophisticated electoral fraud during the March 2 elections. The fraud is massive because more than 400 of the 2200 ballot boxes were affected. The fraud design was sophisticated because it employed within a larger strategic plan, several smaller tactics, including voter impersonation, fake ballots, and the destruction of audit documents. And it is because of that attempted electoral fraud, planned before election day, and apparently with help from foreigners, that Guyanese are must now endure this period of heightened ethnic tensions. Undoubtedly, without the evidence of fraud, the election results would have been declared and accepted a long time ago – irrespective of the winner.

The national recount of votes was expected to provide assurances that the election results would reflect the will of the people, and bring an early, peaceful conclusion to the elections held over five months ago. That recount exercise did the exact opposite. It exposed the carefully planned and executed attempt to steal the elections, and has angered APNU+AFC supporters, confirming their views that the PPP/C leaders cannot be trusted. But more significantly, the fraud so clearly exposed during the recount is now being overlooked, downplayed, or ignored by the opposition parties and foreign commentators. The willingness of the opposition parties to accept fraudulent results is understandable, but not so with those foreign observers who paradoxically insist on using fraudulent votes to produce credible results. Ignoring the fraud does not make it go away, and any government elected using those fraudulent votes cannot be considered legitimate.

Because of the extent of the fraud, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) now finds itself in a conundrum. It cannot nullify the elections because it lacks legal authority to do so. It can decide to count the fraudulent votes to declare a winner and try to force an illegitimate Government onto the Guyanese people. Or it can exclude the tainted ballots from the results, thereby disenfranchising many Guyanese. Either decision will most likely anger approximately one half of the nation. One decision will facilitate fraud, the other will disenfranchise thousands.

There is also a third option. Both major parties can seek to use this opportunity to build a national unity government to serve until the electoral system can be revamped to allow truly fair and transparent elections. This third option would save the nation from what can easily become the world’s newest oil-fuelled conflict – like the one which lead to the division of Sudan. Unfortunately, many Guyanese political and business leaders seem more willing to pander to foreign interests than to the interest of the nation. But that can change. There is no better time for these leaders to put Guyana first.

Respectfully
Max Mohamed