OAS Permanent Council to meet on Guyana’s elections impasse on Tuesday

Ambassador Luis Fernando Cordero Montoya, Chair of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) will on Tuesday, July 21 convene a special meeting on Guyana’s four-month-long electoral process.

In response to a request from Secretary-General of the OAS, Luis Almagro on July 13 to consider the state of the electoral process in Guyana, Montoya said the virtual meeting will be held at 14:30h.

The March 2 General and Regional Elections is the only item on the agenda for discussion.

Links will be provided to all delegations to participate in the meeting.

The OAS is made up of 35 member states. Guyana remains in limbo over four months after citizens voted at the polls and no winner has been declared.

A national vote recount supervised by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) revealed the Opposition People’s Progressive Party as the winner of the polls by over 15,000 votes but the incumbent APNU+AFC, led by Brigadier (rt’d) David Granger has refused to concede defeat.

The recount result is now being challenged in the High Court by a supporter of the incumbent APNU+AFC.

Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield was three times asked to submit a report based on the national vote recount but each time, he has doctored his report to show a win for the Coalition APNU+AFC.

The last of those reports include fraudulent numbers declared by the Returning Officer for District Four Clairmont Mingo.

As a result of Lowenfield’s brazen rebellion, political parties have mounted pressure on the chairman Justice Retired Claudette Singh to dismiss him with immediate effect.

The Organisation of American States (OAS) in one of its strongest statements yet on June 11, said there can be no justification for Lowenfield’s actions.

According to the OAS, this confirms that the Chief Elections Officer is acting in bad faith and contrary to the interest of democracy in Guyana.

The OAS made it clear that the only democratic solution for Guyana at this time is respect for the results of the national recount.

“No other figures – neither those prepared prior to the recount, nor those recently invalidated by the Caribbean Court of Justice, nor any others that may be unilaterally devised by the Chief Elections Officer – can have any place in the final determination of results,” the OAS said.