–Issues strong reminder as international observers return after 2020 elections debacle

ALL eyes are on Guyana head of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) Robert Biedroń warned Sunday ahead of General and Regional Elections here come September 1.

Here at the invitation of the Government of Guyana, Biedroń said in a video message on the Mission’s official Facebook page: “We are here to contribute to transparency, and demonstrate that the world is watching these elections with respect and interest.”

A Member of the European Parliament and a seasoned diplomat, Biedroń is leading a 50-member team of international experts and observers, whose mandate is to conduct a full, independent, and impartial assessment of Guyana’s electoral process, before, during and after the September 1, 2025 General and Regional Elections.

Their presence in the country at this particular point in time, he said, underscores international interest in ensuring that the elections are not only peaceful, but also credible, inclusive and transparent.

“We have no stake in who wins,” Biedroń stated plainly. “Our only concern is that the whole process is inclusive and credible, and that every voter casts their ballot freely and with confidence.”

Observers from the EU EOM have been deployed across all ten administrative regions, and have already met with a wide range of stakeholders, including political parties, civil society groups, electoral officials, media professionals and ordinary voters.

Over the coming weeks, the team will monitor campaign activities, media coverage, electoral preparations, the conduct of polling on Election Day, and the post-election environment. Their findings will be compiled in a comprehensive report, including recommendations aimed at strengthening Guyana’s democratic institutions and electoral systems.

“We look forward to accompanying you, the people of Guyana, in this fantastic electoral journey,” Biedroń said.

The EU EOM has a long-standing history of observing elections worldwide, and its presence in Guyana signals the international community’s keen interest in the democratic health of the country.

Recently, France’s Ambassador to Suriname and Guyana, Nicolas de Lacoste called for the upcoming elections to be conducted in a peaceful and orderly manner, while urging the country to avoid a repeat of the highly- controversial 2020 polls.

“We are all expecting that they will go in an orderly manner; that everything will work well,” the Ambassador told the Guyana Chronicle recently.

Reflecting on Suriname’s recent elections, he said, “We just went through an electoral cycle in Suriname, and we can see that organisation described it as a peaceful and an orderly manner. That is all we wish for in Guyana and avoid the situation we had five years ago.”

With elections mere weeks away, the government has already committed to inviting credible international observer missions, including the Carter Center, which was previously blocked from fully participating in the 2020 recount by the then APNU+AFC administration.

The 2020 elections were marred by widespread allegations of fraud, and an extended political standoff that lasted over five months. Those elections were called early after President David A. Granger’s government lost a vote of no confidence in December 2018, leading to heightened political tensions and expectations.

A Commission of Inquiry (CoI), launched by the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government, and roundly supported by international partners, found damning evidence of collusion within the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to rig the results in favour of the APNU+AFC coalition.

The CoI concluded that senior GECOM officials including former Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, former Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers, and former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo were central to attempts to subvert the electoral outcome.

A BLEMISH ON OUR HISTORY

In what has become one of the darkest chapters in Guyana’s democratic history, Mingo allegedly manipulated tabulations in Region Four, significantly inflating the APNU+AFC’s vote count.

The official recount process, supervised by a high-level CARICOM team, later confirmed that the PPP/C had won the elections with 233,336 votes, while the APNU+AFC had received 217,920—a stark difference from the fraudulent numbers declared by Lowenfield in his initial report.

All three former GECOM officials, along with several others including Carol Smith-Joseph, Volda Lawrence, and GECOM staffers, are currently before the court facing 19 charges related to conspiracy and electoral fraud.

The PPP/C Government has consistently maintained its commitment to democratic processes, with President Irfaan Ali assuring that the upcoming elections will be transparent, inclusive, and closely monitored by international partners.

It is important to understand that the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the events of the 2020 General and Regional Elections found that there was collusion and collaboration between senior GECOM officials to divert votes to the APNU +AFC instead of safeguarding and preserving the integrity of the electoral system.

Chairman Stanley John and commissioners — former Chancellor, Carl Singh and Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith made these findings based on evidence from the many witnesses who testified along with the reports of the international observers.

“…our inquiry reveals that there were, in fact, shockingly brazen attempts by Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, Deputy Chief Election Officer (DCEO) Roxanne Myers and Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo to derail and corrupt the statutorily prescribed procedure for the counting, ascertaining and tabulation of votes of the March 2nd election, as well as the true declaration of the results of that election, and that they did so – to put it in unvarnished language of the ordinary man – for the purpose of stealing the election,” the commissioners said in their report.

The report found that Lowenfield blatantly made decisions and employed procedures in direct contradiction to the law and the will of the people. The findings revealed too that GECOM staffers ignored specific instructions from the court, used materials that were illegal and or manipulated, and sided with APNU+AFC agents to berate observers whenever objections were raised.

After careful scrutiny, the COI commissioners concluded that there was a conscious and deliberate – even brazen –effort to violate the provisions of section 84(1) of the Representation of the People Act (RoPA)

In so doing, certain “senior GECOM officials” abandoned all need for neutrality and impartiality and demonstrated a bias for the APNU+AFC and, in the course of events over those days, showed an “open connection” with that party, and by their efforts sought a desired result for the coalition.

As such, the commissioners said that after consideration and analysis of the evidence, Lowenfield, Mingo and Myers “were principally responsible for clear and deliberate attempts to frustrate, obstruct and subvert the ascertainment of votes in electoral district No. 4.”