RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – After more than two months of inaction, the recount of the still outstanding results of the March 2nd presidential elections in Guyana began at the end of last week.
However, the pace is surprisingly slow: the Supreme Electoral Commission (GECOM) granted itself 25 days and by Sunday had only recounted 208 ballot boxes. The reason alleged for the slow recounting is the conditions of the arranged live broadcast.
Vincent Alexander, who was appointed for this recount by the ruling coalition APNU/AFC, said that out of consideration for blind and deaf voters, appropriate precautions had been taken which resulted in a slow count. According to the government, initial evidence from the recount showed that serious irregularities had been detected in favor of the opposition.
This was reported by the government-affiliated newspaper Guyana Chronicle. However, the motives, causes, and perhaps also interests of this virtually unprecedented election farce still remain largely in the dark.
As in the March elections, an election observer from the US Carter Center wanted to enter the country for the recount. However, he ultimately failed to reach Georgetown. According to a press release issued by the Carter Center, he was not allowed to fly from Miami. There was immediate speculation over travel restrictions, which also affect Guyana due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, it appears not to be as simple as that: the official reaction from Guyana took a week to come.
Joseph Harmon from the official Covid-19 Task Force then explained: “We didn’t tell him to get off the plane, we didn’t tell him to come. We didn’t tell him anything like that. The only thing we know: He wasn’t on the plane that landed in Guyana.”
The US and Canada obviously were not satisfied with this explanation. They asked President David Granger for enlightenment and for the Carter Center to be included in the ongoing recount. Meanwhile, US Democrat Congressman Hakeem Jeffries is concerned about outside interference in the electoral process in Guyana, particularly from the US government.
This is “deeply disturbing”. He also referred to a statement by the US ambassador to Guyana, Sarah Ann-Lynch, who, like other embassy officials, has publicly declared her support for the opposition alliance of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP). Sanctions against Guyana also seem to be a possibility for the USA.
Katherine Dueholm, the US State Department’s Director for the Caribbean, said that they have “the means to take action against governments in power as a result of electoral fraud”.
Large oil and gas reserves have been found in Guyana in recent years. The current government has already signed production contracts with Exxon Mobil. Observers see the country’s future wealth of raw materials as the main reason for the still outstanding election results.