GEORGETOWN – “Every vote must count,” CARICOM Chairman Mia Mottley has declared as she led a prime ministerial delegation to meet with political leaders amid a bitter dispute over the March 2 regional and general election.
The Prime Minister told reporters: “Any attempt to stall the process or any attempt to obfuscate the process is one that runs against the spirit of the Chief Justice’s judgment and it is against this background that we pray that even though a statute puts power in the hands of a Returning Officer that that Returning Officer will understand that he holds in his hands the future and stability of Guyana as we go forward because every vote must be made to count.”
Flanked by her colleagues, Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, Dominica’s Roosevelt Skerrit, Grenada’s Dr Keith Mitchell and St. Vincent and the Grenadines Dr Ralph Gonsalves, Mottley told a news briefing that the process must be transparent in the presence of observers and all parties that contested the election. She declared everyone has a right to determine whether the process was fair and whether they need to ask for a recount.
Mottley urged the Returning Officer to abide by Wednesday’s ruling delivered by Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire who ordered the polling official to resume or start a fresh reconciliation of the Statements of Poll.
The Prime Minister said: “We hope and pray that there will be an adherence to not just the law of the judgement to the spirit of the judgement because she was very clear in the last three paragraphs of her judgment as to what she expects in the spirit and the principle and a transparent process that is critical if this country is to go forward.”
On Wednesday, Chief Justice George-Wiltshire ruled that the declaration made by the Returning Office in Region four was “unlawful” and in breach of the Representation of the People Act.
The High Court was asked to decide whether or not, the injunction granted to a supporter of the main opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) to block the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) from declaring the results of the elections was justified on the grounds that the votes declared for Region Four were not completely verified.
Last Thursday, Justice Navindra Singh granted the injunction against GECOM, the Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield and Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo.
But four days after polls were held, GECOM released to the media the results for Region Four, and if, certified would have resulted in the ruling coalition, A Partnership for National Unity plus the Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) defeating the main opposition PPP/C by more than 59,000 votes and securing another term in office.
Mottley told reporters that her delegation met with President David Granger, the executive of the coalition, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo as well as the presidential candidate Irfaan Ali and other senior members of the opposition party.
She said the two political sides committed to abiding by the laws and constitution of Guyana as well as a free, fair and transparent process.
The CARICOM chairman stressed it was for the political leaders to demonstrate the political will for dialogue to work.
Mottley said: “While we can create the space for them to speak, they have to have the will for this to work. There is no doubt in our minds that there is at stake far more than who will be the President of Guyana.
“What is at stake is also the lives and stability of the people of Guyana,” she argued.
