GEORGETOWN, Guyana –Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Dr Keith Rowley on Saturday expressed disappointment and concern at the ongoing delay in executing a credible tabulating of the votes cast in Guyana’s March 2 general and regional elections, Stabroek News reported Sunday, April 5.
“I am getting a feeling that this is not going to end well…I hope I am wrong but that feeling…I am not having a good feeling…I have this unsettling feeling [that grows] with every passing day,” he said last Friday.
Speaking in an interview with journalist Elizabeth Williams, Rowley said he was deeply concerned and worried that a month after polling, the elections have become a “court house matter” and Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders, who sought to assist by sharing the benefit of their experience and the comfort of their presence, have been vilified.
Nine days after the March 2 elections, a team of CARICOM leaders, including Rowley, visited Guyana in an attempt to mediate in the elections crisis. The team met with leaders of the 11 parties which contested the elections and facilitated meetings between President David Granger and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo.
Their visit followed a legal challenge to a declaration of results made by Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, which had been deemed “fraudulent” by opposition parties. This declaration was later vitiated by Chief Justice Roxane George.
Two days later, Mingo made another declaration which was also labelled fraudulent and President Granger reached out to CARICOM for a team to supervise a recount of votes cast. Included in the team was the Chief Elections Officer of Trinidad and Tobago Fern Narcis-Scope. See complete Stabroek News at https://www.stabroeknews.com/2020/04/05/news/guyana/this-is-not-going-to-end-well/
