THE Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the events following the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections, presided over by distinguished jurists, opened its public hearings on Friday.

In order to help prevent or limit the chance of a repeat of the events that occurred during the protracted process, the CoI will carefully examine the details provided by persons who have agreed to testify.

The proceedings will be open to the public and live-streamed for persons to view. The hearings are expected to be completed by the end of January 2023, and a report will be submitted by the end of March 2023.

The CoI will also make recommendations as it deems fit and necessary to permit the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to discharge its constitutional functions in an impartial and fair manner that is compliant with the law.

The integrity and credibility of the elections body was tainted after the 2020 elections, especially during the five-month period, when the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) and persons purportedly close to the party, attempted to interfere with the process.

It was found during a national recount process that the Returning Officer for Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Clairmont Mingo, had announced results that appeared to be inflated to favour the coalition party.

Since the election fiasco unfolded, several persons that served within the apparatus of the GECOM have been charged with electoral fraud. Those include former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers, former PNCR Minister Volda Lawrence, and Mingo, among others.

Considering the occurrences in 2020, one would believe that the coalition would be opened to reforming its image by participating in activities that promote democracy, but it was quite the contrary, as members of the APNU+AFC walked out of a recent consultation exercise on draft electoral reforms.

Action speaks louder than words, and electoral reforms seek to correct all the ambiguities and deficiencies which the APNU+AFC sought to capitalise on.

The Attorney-General, Anil Nandlall, S.C., in his remarks on electoral reforms, said: “Whatever weaknesses were in the law, they were exploited to their hilt. Wherever there was discretion, it was abused. Wherever there was latitude; interpretative latitude, it was vulgarised. Wherever there was an opportunity to bend the law to the repulsive end, it was exploited.”

The Opposition People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) – the major party in the coalition, does not have history on their side and has failed to recover from its relatively poor electoral showing, which dates back to its 28 years of what was characterised as dictatorial rule.

Even to this day, the party seems to have a fundamental problem with elections. It was reported recently that Executive Member of the PNC/R, Annette Ferguson, questioned the credibility of the party’s Georgetown District Elections.

The irregularities observed by Ferguson during the elections included unregistered persons voting, a number of registered persons prevented from voting, and ballots were not being counted and verified in the presence of candidates.

Ferguson highlighted her concerns in a letter written to the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the PNC/R, but the party’s leader, Aubrey Norton, endorsed the polls as “free and fair,” dismissing the irregularities as being of no concern.

It is unclear whether Ferguson will continue to challenge the integrity of those polls, but there is no uncertainty regarding the ongoing CoI, which is likely to further uncover the ugly truth of what occurred during the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.