Dear Editor,

THE country has completed the second anniversary of the attempt to rig (change) the legitimate outcome of the 2020 elections. It was a five-month ordeal. I was in the middle of the effort joining others in combating the rigging. Praise is deserved all around for those who saved democracy.

The election was held a year late after it was due. It should have been held by March 2019 following the Coalition incumbent’s defeat in a no-confidence vote in December 2018, but it was delayed through varied manipulation stratagems and constitutional challenges.

Long before the election was held, since 2016, because of terrible policies of the Coalition regime and its behaviour towards Amerindians and Indians whose support was necessary for a democratic victory, I surmised it would be rigged. No government keen on retaining support would so ill-treat voters who crossed over from their traditional party to support it. And I so wrote publicly in the diaspora media and stated in discussions with Guyanese in America, Guyana, and the Caribbean that in order for the Coalition to win, it would have to rig the elections. Other Guyanese held similar views as they agreed that the Coalition could not win another free and fair election. Polls conducted by me showed the Coalition trailing the then opposition. Rigging was the only option to prevent an opposition victory.

Discussions with Guyanese centred on how the rigging would take place. Some were given as well as strategies to combat them. Neither I nor other Guyanese with whom I conversed expected the rigging to take place in public after the voting. Everyone thought the rigging would take place before voting day through special voting and on Election Day with non-nationals given voter ID cards to cast ballots. I thought there would be creative, secretive and clever methods to rig the outcome, such as manipulating the voters list and stuffing the ballot boxes. The latter normally happened when goons rushed into polling stations, seized ballots, marked them, and put into the boxes in the waning hours of the day.  There was some ballot-stuffing late in the day, but not enough to narrow the gap with the opposition. I did not expect a bare-faced plan to change vote numbers on SOPs, and worse, that it would be done publicly with cameras filming it and in the presence of voters. No one expected that spreadsheets and bedsheets would have been used to change ballots in favour of the incumbent Coalition.

I spent considerable amount of time in Guyana before the elections. In fact, I was in and out of the country from 2015 thru 2020 testing support for the parties around the country. I met with international and local observers at their hotels and press briefings. I attended several press conferences. Everyone was looking for signs of rigging. The voters list was monitored. Observers were plentiful. On election day, I visited several polling stations. I did not see outward signs of rigging, except some ballot-stuffing in one party’s stronghold in town, intimidating and driving away observers and poll workers.

All went well with the counting of ballots. It was clear that the ruling party lost as per SOPs. By late evening on election day, it was clear that the then opposition had won. Then chicanery and skulduggery started on March 3 to change the outcome.  A press conference was called by observers. I attended. A deliberate attempt was made to rig the count on March 4.  Another press conference was called. I was at the counting headquarters from March 2 thru 6. What I observed was shameful and disgraceful. Some GECOM staff attempted to rig the count. I observed their behaviour carefully and so did the observers. The GECOM individuals who attempted to change the outcome did not care about how they would be viewed and their characters and reputations.

From March 3, I immediately began working the phones to apprise my contacts with foreign governments and diplomats at international organisations in Australia, New Zealand, UK, India, CARICOM, the OAS, UN and Trump administration, among others. I kept apprising them of what was happening and urged issuance of statements. I also used my contacts with international observers in Guyana to help secure the outcome based on the will of voters. The observers’ were very helpful. I was very close with a few key figures with whom I dined. They gave me a commitment to reject fraud. They saved democracy; I can assure readers that they pressured key figures in the GECOM team to do the right thing. I was on the phone with some of them daily at regular intervals getting updates. I met with a few almost daily. Without the observers, the election would have been rigged. The foreign diplomats were also essential to deter the rigging. Without the media, the rigging would not have been exposed. Thanks to the three independent newspapers and TV and radios. Off course, in the end, the US government pulled the trigger on the government to accept the outcome.

Since March 2, 2020, Guyanese have been talking and reminiscing about the rigging. Democracy was saved. They describe those who saved democracy as true heroes.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Vishnu Bisram