Irfaan Ali officially declared President

Chairman of GECOM Justice (rt’d) Claudette Singh has officially declared Mohamed Irfaan Ali of the People’s Progress Party as the President of Guyana.

This was confirmed by Public Relations Officer of GECOM Yolanda Ward.

The declaration of the results of the election comes exactly five months after Guyanese went to the polls. A national vote recount showed the PPP winning the elections by over 15,000 votes but the now-ousted APNU+AFC had refused to accept the results and embarked on a campaign alleging fraud.

There were also several elections case that reached all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice.

The latest case sponsored by the APNU+AFC challenged the recount figures but the Court of Appeal on Thursday last upheld the decision of Chief Justice Roxane George that the national vote recount is valid and that the Chief Elections Officer, as an employee of GECOM, must do as he is told.

The appeal was dismissed as being frivolous and vexatious and further abuse of the Court.

See below full statement issued by GECOM: 

August 2 2020, GEORGETOWN – Following the unanimous decision of the Court of Appeal on 30th July, 2020, the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission, Justice Claudette Singh wrote to the Chief Election Officer, Mr. Keith Lowenfield requesting that he presents his report using the results of the recount of the ballots cast in the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

The CEO complied with the Chairperson’s request and submitted the report as requested. Subsequently, a meeting of the Commission was convened on August 2, 2020 to the deliberate on report and to discuss ‘the way forward’.

It was during that meeting that the Commissioners representing the APNU/AFC Coalition recommended that the GECOM Chairperson, Justice Claudette Singh should consult with the leaders of the APNU/AFC and the PPP/C to initiate talks between the two in an effort to resolve the ongoing election disputes.

Justice Singh agreed and spoke with Mr. David Granger and Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo. However, Mr. Jagdeo opted not engage in any talks with Mr. Granger prior to a declaration by the Guyana Elections Commission. He has committed to talks on a governance model after the declaration.

Consequent to the foregoing, the meeting was adjourned and reconvened at 14:00hrs to deliberate on the CEO’s report.

After careful examination of the report, Justice Claudette Singh declared Mohamed Ifraan Ali as President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. A copy of the declaration is attached for reference