Mandela’s ‘Elders’ Group says results of recount must be declared

The Elders, a group of independent global leaders working together for peace, justice and human rights, founded by Nelson Mandela, have insisted that a declaration of the results of the March 02 elections must be made based on the results of the national vote recount; those results show the PPP won the elections, paving the way for the declaration and swearing in of the PPP’s Irfaan Ali as President.

The Elders is currently chaired by Mary Robinson, First woman President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Graca Machel, first education Minister of Mozambique serve as vice-chairs.

“Nearly four months have passed since Guyana’s elections.

“The will of the people expressed in the elections and confirmed in the recount must be respected,” The Elders said on a Twitter Friday.

“An electoral declaration based on the recount should be made without delay,” the stated.

The Elders shared the statement of CARICOM Chair Mia Mottley who this week expressed shock that the Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield had set aside over 115, 000 votes to make way for APNU+AFC to be declared the winner of the elections instead of the PPP.

Figures from the recount show APNU+AFC received 217, 920 votes as compared to 233, 336 votes for the PPP.  Together, ANUG, LJP and TCM received 5, 214 votes.

From those votes, the PPP secured 33 Parliamentary seats to form the government, with APNU+AFC taking 31 seats and the three parties combined taking the other seat to complete the 65-seat legislature.