The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) has been closely following the ongoing recount of votes cast in the 2020 General and Regional Elections. The exercise which has seemingly descended into an audit of the elections, we gather, from media reports, has been going smoothly albeit slowly. We are hopeful that as we approach a week since the recount begun the process can be hastened as the nation anxiously awaits the declaration of the true and accurate results.
While we are pleased, somewhat, with those developments, we are simply aghast to see the unvarnished attempts by officials of the Coalition to sought to bring the process into disrepute. We recall previously that the Coalition had conveyed that voting proceeded without any hitch or controversy. Similar sentiments also came from the various parties and local and international observers. It, therefore, now is confounding that we see officials of the Administration seeking to cast doubts on a process that President David Granger a few days ago said it was free and fair. We all know that the Coalition was more than willing to benefit from a second term on the same results it now expresses critical views about.
Undoubtedly, the Coalition has a right to express a view or to alter its viewpoint. But notwithstanding that right, rationally it is not expected that their views would be altered as fundamentally as the Coalition has done with respect to the election results. Be that as it may, we see accusations coming to the fore about deceased persons and Guyanese who have migrated exercising their franchise on voting day. Of course, Guyanese who migrated, once their names of are the OLE, are entitled to vote. This was reinforced not too long ago by decisions of the Courts. Regarding the deceased casting votes, one has to wonder what apparitions are now all of a sudden been seen.
We see the Coalition’s accusations, as nothing more than futile and feeble attempt as an act of unadulterated desperation. For those who are familiar with the electoral process, it is a most robust system which has several built-in safeguards. The system, of course, evolved out of the dark period of rigged elections. The entire spectrum of finger-pointing brings indeed into great question of role of the Coalition’s agents on elections day. Certainly, one would have thought they were have looked at the process with an eagle eye and would have caught these ‘issues’ as they arose. It also begs the question, that the Coalition having knowledge of such ‘issues’ never prior to the recount sought to make them known, publicly at least. Or why it was willing to benefit from a process which tilted the votes in its favour yet, at the same time, apparently worked against it. They simply do not add up, lack logic or even coherence and tells us that “[s]omething is rotten in the state of Denmark”
We of the FITUG urge, at this time, that Guyanese do not get sidetracked by attempts once again to hijack the process. Clearly, it is yet another attempt to perpetuate the incumbent illegitimate stay in office. The Federation looks forward to hastening of the process and that the elections come to a long awaited end. The continued ploys being deployed by the Coalition are nothing more than an insult to the collective intelligence of all Guyanese. We are not as asinine as the Coalition wants to think.
