FLASHBACK: CARICOM IS THE MOST LEGITIMATE INTERLOCUTOR IN ELECTIONS – GRANGER

President David Granger had on May 17 declared that the team from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was the most important interlocutor in the electoral process; the team has now submitted its report showing that Granger’s APNU+AFC lost the elections.

“I’m very confident in CARICOM’s ability and integrity. And I’d just like to repeat what the Ambassador of Barbados to Washington said, that CARICOM is the most legitimate interlocutor in the Guyana situation,” he told reporters at a press conference held at the National Aquatic Centre on May 17.

“I’m inspired by that remark and I share the sentiment that CARICOM is the most legitimate interlocutor on the Guyana situation. CARICOM was here before and is a reliable partner in Guyana’s development,” he added.

The combined totals of the vote recount, as presented by the Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield on Saturday, shows the PPP winning the elections with 233, 336 votes. APNU+AFC secured 217,920 votes. Together, the other parties secured 9,096 votes.

It means, therefore, that Granger’s APNU+AFC lost the elections by 24, 512 votes.

The CARICOM team presented the same totals in their report which was submitted on Monday.

Granger had stated: “The CARICOM team is competent and I am very confident that the work they will do is up to international standards.”

He added: “I don’t disparage the CARICOM team, I am not dismissive of their efforts.”

The CARICOM team which scrutinised the national vote recount has said nothing prevents the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission from declaring the results of the recount which has shown a victory for the People’s Progressive Party.

“We are…of the unshakeable belief that the people of Guyana expressed their will at the ballot box and as a result, the 3 person CARICOM Observer Group concludes that the recount results are completely acceptable,” the report presented to GECOM and political leaders states.

It added: “Despite our concerns, nothing that we witnessed warrants a challenge to the inescapable conclusion that the recount results are acceptable and should constitute the basis of the declaration of the results of the March 02, 2020 elections. Any aggrieved political party has been afforded the right to seek redress before the courts in the form of an elections petition.”

Granger had visited the recount site and met the three members of the CARICOM scrutinising team: Ms. Cynthia Barrow-Giles, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies (UWI); Mr. John Jarvis, Commissioner of the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission and; and Mr. Sylvester King, Deputy Supervisor of Elections of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

“I am obliged to work with the CARICOM team to ensure that we provide a satisfactory outcome to the challenges which were made to the elections of the 2nd of March,” Granger stated.