Brazil, a key Guyana ally, calls for declaration based on recounted votes

Last Updated on Wednesday, 15 July 2020, 20:14 by Denis Chabrol

Brazil, a longstanding strategic ally of Guyana in the border controversy with Venezuela, on Wednesday called on Guyanese authorities to use the figures from the national vote recount to declare results of general and regional elections held more than four months ago.

“The Brazilian government calls on Guyanese political forces to respect the popular will emanating from the elections, in line with the recent sentence of the Caribbean Court of Justice, in order to guarantee the prompt official announcement of the country’s new representatives,” the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said.

Brazil has historically backed Guyana in pushing back Venezuela’s claim to the Essequibo Region, partly due to the fact that any changes in the Guyana-Venezuela border will have implications for its border with Brazil.

Following is a Google translated version of the statement by the Brazilians government.

The Brazilian government has been following closely the developments of the general and regional elections held in the Cooperative Republic of Guyana on March 2 of this year.

Four months after the election, the Brazilian government considers that delaying the conclusion of the electoral process poses a serious threat to stability in Guyana and a departure from the democratic commitments that the country must observe in the regional and hemispheric context.

The Brazilian government calls on Guyanese political forces to respect the popular will emanating from the elections, in line with the recent sentence of the Caribbean Court of Justice, in order to guarantee the prompt official announcement of the country’s new representatives.

The Brazilian government endorses the conclusions of the CARICOM electoral observation mission regarding the smoothness of the recount procedure and endorses the calls made by the Community and the Organization of American States for the conclusion of the electoral process. Likewise, Brazil adds to the statements of CARICOM, the OAS, the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, pointing out the absence of impediments to the declaration of final results based on the votes cast in the recount process.

The Brazilian government calls on Guyana, an Associated State of MERCOSUR, to remain among the South American nations committed to the highest democratic principles.