Breaking News! United States Summons Guyana Ambassador to the US, Riyad Insanally

First Published: 26th March, 2020

As the post 2020 elections saga in Guyana, South America continues between the people of Guyana versus GECOM/APNU/AFC, Acting Assistant Secretary for U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs has today summoned the Guyana Ambassador to the US, Riyad Insanally.

Mr. Michael Kozak Tweeted:

On behalf of the U.S. government, today I summoned #Guyana Ambassador to the U.S. Riyad Insanally to convey our firm position that any government sworn in based on flawed election results would not be legitimate. Every vote must be counted. -MK #GuyanaElections

Guyana has been in a state of political turmoil since the 4th of March 2020 – two days after the country’s General and Regional Elections when Mr. Mingo, the returning officer for Region 4, fell ill on the job and had to be rushed to the hospital. He returned the next day to declare results while only 421 out of 458 ballot boxes had been tabulated.

All international observers, including the United States Embassy, the European Union and the Carter Center have issued statements that they do not believe the results are credible.

The APNU/AFC was about to swear in their presidential candidate when an injunction filed by the PPP/C was granted by the High Court to block the swearing in. The matter was subsequently heard and the Chief Justice ruled that transparent tabulation of all the ballot boxes must be completed before results can be declared.

On these grounds, a high level CARICOM team had agreed to oversee the recount of Region 4 votes. The team arrived in Guyana shortly after but was forced to leave after a “citizen” filed an injunction to block the recount.

Mr. Granger has since said that he “regrets” that the CARICOM team had to leave but insists that the legal procedures must be followed. The situation continues to deteriorate as the matter remains before the court.

Since the 5th of March, concerned citizens and party agents have been camping out 24 hours – in the dead of the night and in the heat of the day to keep watch over the ballot boxes which they say they fear might be tampered with.

On the 24th of March 2020, the UK Government issued an official statement that a government sworn in under these conditions would result in “serious consequences.”