By Nigel Westmaas Guyana’s national election was held on Monday, March 2. We are now more than a week away from that date and there is still no declaration of a ‘winner’. The elections were held under conditions of decades and decades’ long ethnic and racial division and suspicion of the other. The confusion that descended on the country in ...
Read More »Author Archives: Denis Chabrol
OPINION: Local leaders must engage and most urgently: this is our problem
By GHK Lall The High Court will meet again on Tuesday, then what? It will rule shortly after on a way forward, then what? I can say this with utter confidence: it is inevitable that one group would feel vindicated and triumphant, while the other would think that it has been denied and delayed. If that was the end of ...
Read More »GECOM Chairman turns down PPP vote verification requests because issue before court
Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Retired Justice Claudette Singh has refused requests by the People’s Progressive Party for a restart of the verification of votes cast in Region Four before they are declared. Justice Singh has also refused the PPP’s request for a final count of the Region Four votes to begin immediately, all without prejudice to the ...
Read More »High Court says can hear case against GECOM; agrees elections report must be scrapped
Chief Justice, Roxane George-Wiltshire on Sunday ruled that the High Court has jurisdiction to hear related cases involving several now “absolute” orders against the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) that results for Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) must not be declared unless they are verified using the same process as the other nine regions have. Sunday’s decision effectively puts a brake on the ...
Read More »GECOM says will abide by laws, procedures
Even as the European Union (EU) said the electoral situation in Guyana has taken a “serious turn”, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has signalled its intent to comply with the law to properly declare the results of the March 2 general elections. “While it is unfortunate how things have escalated, it is the intention of the Guyana Elections Commission to ...
Read More »OPINION: Reach across the political divide
by Retired Major General Joseph Singh I hold no brief for any political party but am interested in working, like many others, towards achieving an outcome from the current 2020 Elections challenges, that may not satisfy everyone but which at the very least, complies with the Rule of Law and the Guyana Constitution, and one which is respectful of basic ...
Read More »OPINION: Stop the violence, burden of Guyana’s future rests with GECOM Chairman
by Christopher Ram The descent into sporadic but geographically widespread violence following last Monday’s general and regional elections is a most regrettable and dangerous development in this country. Our political leaders must elevate the national interest above that of their party. This requires empathy, understanding and courage in order to protect our country’s hard won but still developing democracy. Those ...
Read More »OPINION: Neither of the two major parties could govern effectively anymore
by GHK Lall In a flash we went from what was about disagreeing to what is now the disbelieving. I don’t care how we got there, the fact is that we are here, and it is inflaming, distressing, and devastating. I don’t like it; I don’t agree with it; I don’t think what developed on Thursday could stand. I wish ...
Read More »Commonwealth, other observers feel “threatened” by Foreign Affairs Minister
International and local election observers told the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karen Cummings that they felt threatened by her remarks that she was told to take away their accreditation. Although Cummings said she did not agree with that suggestion which was “in my ear”, the observers told her bluntly that they felt threatened. “They said you have to take away ...
Read More »PPP election commissioners to boycott GECOM meetings until court cases end
The three pro-People’s Progressive Party (PPP) election commissioners Saturday night vowed to boycott all meetings of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) until the court rules on whether the Region Four election results must be verified before they are declared. “We will not respond to any such or further invitations from the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield or Chairman of Guyana ...
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