US Gov’t summons Guyana’s Ambassador; warns about illegitimate Gov’t

The United States Government summoned Guyana’s Ambassador to the US Riyad Insanally on Thursday to sternly reiterate its position that it will not accept any Government which is sworn in using flawed elections results.

The meeting was held by Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, Ambassador Michael Kozak.

Kozak in a tweet said “on behalf of the US Government, today I summoned #Guyana Ambassador to the US Riyad Insanally to convey our firm position that any government sworn in based on flawed election results would not be legitimate. Every vote must be counted.”

The US Government continues to maintain that vote tabulation marred Guyana’s elections and has been calling for the national recount initiated by President David Granger under the supervision of CARICOM.

On March 6, Kozak urged that no candidate is sworn in until issues are resolved surrounding the declaration of unverified results for the country’s largest voting district.

“At this juncture, preparations to install officials without resolving the serious issues identified in the vote-counting process would create a climate of uncertainty for the citizens of Guyana, Guyana’s international partners, and businesses looking to invest in Guyana,” Ambassador Kozak had said.

International governments, including the U.S., UK, Canada, and the EU, along with observers from the Commonwealth, the OAS, the EU and CARICOM, have all said that if the verification of the Region Four Statements of Poll are not completed, the elections results would not be credible.

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has stated that it will not make any decision on the way forward until ongoing court cases are settled.