APNU+AFC wants President to be sworn in ‘very quickly’

The APNU+AFC on Friday night said it wants to see the swearing-in of the President “very quickly” and is looking to the discharge tomorrow of a court injunction blocking the declaration of the overall results in favour of its leader David Granger.

“We would like to have this matter dealt with very quickly. So in order for there to be calm, stability, restraint, we have to have the President sworn in very quickly and that his government be able to take the necessary steps to guarantee the peace, stability and security of the people of this country,” Joseph Harmon, General Secretary of APNU+AFC said in a video release.

The Region Four returning officer on Thursday declared the results of the largest electoral district without the legal process of verification and when added with the declarations from the other regions showed a win for APNU+AFC; however, the Opposition has claimed the Statements of Poll show it winning and that the results declared by the Returning Officer was heavily padded and is not credible.

The international community, including the leading developing partners in Guyana and international observers, have urged that the verification process take place, otherwise the government would be unconstitutional.

Harmon, in his statement, said after the Region Four declaration, a declaration of the overall winner should be made by the Chief Elections Officer followed by a meeting of the Guyana Elections Commission and a confirmation of those results by the Commission.

Thereafter, he explained, the chairman would then send a statement to the Chancellor of the judiciary who will then act upon that to have the Chancellor sworn in.

Harmon said the Commission should have met today to conclude those processes when it was served with an injunction on behalf of the People’s Progressive Party.

However, Harmon said the Chairman of the Elections Commission, Justice Claudette Singh, decided that she will follow what the court says and have agreed that this procedure for the swearing-in of the President will be put on hold and that the parties will go to court tomorrow at 10 a.m. at where the injunction will be discharged

“So the situation has been on hold until such time that matter is discharged and we expect that will be done tomorrow,” Harmon stated.

“Once that is done, it will then clear the way for the Commission to meet and for them to issue that statement which will clear the way for the President to be sworn in,” Harmon added.

The Commission is split evenly between Commissioners of the PPP and the Coalition; so in the end, the Chairman would have to make a casting vote on declaring the winner.

“It is our expectation that this matter will be treated with some amount of speed…,” Harmon declared.