Pressure intensifies on APNU+AFC to give up power

Last Updated on Sunday, 21 June 2020, 8:56 by Denis Chabrol

Pressure is mounting on  A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition to concede defeat and pave the way for the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) to take office.

The Change Guyana political party and the Muslim Youth Organisation are the latest organizations to call on President David Granger to give up power.

Led by hotelier, Robert Badal and Chartered Accountant, Nigel Hinds, Change Guyana said the results of the CARICOM scrutinised recount are irrefutable and confirm a victory for the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

That small political party, which mustered 1,953 votes across the country, called on Granger to put Guyana first and salvage whatever respect he may have as a former President instead of hanging on the last legal straw to remain in political office.

The Guyana Court of Appeal will tomorrow afternoon rule whether GECOM can remove over 200,000 votes because of alleged voter fraud before the results are declared. The Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield’s calculation, based observation reports from the recount show, that only 185,000 of the 460,000 votes are not tainted by claims of impersonation and other irregularities.

Change Guyana says any further delay in handing over power will negatively impact on Granger’s record as President and affect the credibility of his coalition in the parliamentary  opposition

And,  the Muslim Youth Organisation (MYO) says Guyana is being held at ransom by a few persons who want power for their own personal gain and selfish interest under the guise of exposing electoral fraud.

MYO President, Azan Ibrahim says his organisation is calling for a practical demonstration of honesty, decency and leadership of integrity to stop the gerrymandering. The Muslim organisation says doing this will immediately pave the way for the swearing in of Dr. Irfaan Ali as Guyana’s next president.

“The latest saga involves a feeble attempt to prevent the CEO of GECOM to hand over the report based on the recently concluded recount. The theft of an election while invoking the dead and the migrated is the greatest crime that can be perpetrated against our nation,” the  MYO said.

Ali is a practising Muslim.

The CARICOM-supervised recount shows that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) got 233,336 valid votes and A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition 217,920 valid votes.

The Private Sector Commission, Caribbean Community, Organisation of American States and the Commonwealth have all called for the use of the recount results to declare the final results of the March 2, 2020 general and regional elections.