Day 18 of the recount of all votes cast in the March 2nd 2020 elections in Guyana, South America saw the completion of 85 more ballot boxes. This brings the total number of counted ballot boxes up to 999 out of 2,339, leaving 1,340 to be counted in the remaining 7 days. However, the timeline is expected to extend as agreed upon by all parties.
Meanwhile, representatives of the APNU/AFC have so far claimed that at least 80,000 votes cast were fraudulent – pushing the argument that the results of the elections cannot be used to declare a winner. However, this directly contradicts the APNU/AFC’s earlier claim that they had won the elections. GECOM commissioner, Claudette Singh, has asked the APNU/AFC to produce evidence of dead and migrated voters – which they claim they have done to some extent – but former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, has said that GECOM does not have the legal authority to launch investigations into these accusastions.
Meanwhile, General Secretary of the PPP/C, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, has said that making unfounded and false accusations such as that dead persons voted could result in criminal charges against those who make them. Further, Dr. Jagdeo sent a message that the APNU/AFC’s charade is hurting the prospects of a power sharing agreement when the PPP/C inevitably comes into office.
The coalition government is apparently using the claims of a non-credible electoral process to push for new elections, but can Guyana really afford to start all over again, and how much would that hurt the people of Guyana and the Guyanese economy?
