The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) said that it is appalled that the now “de-facto” Government of Guyana has not approved requests to allow representatives of the Carter Centre (CC) and the International Republic Institute (IRI)to participate in the soon to commence recount of ballots cast in the March 02, 2020 National and Regional Elections.
The federation, in a statment to the media today, said: “The inexplicable denial is yet only further confirmation that the governing Coalition clearly has something to hide. Certainly, how else could one explain the refusal of having more eyes on the process?”
FITUG said that the denial of permission also comes against the backdrop of the APNU+AFC seeking just a few days ago the Elections Commission to consider preventing party representatives and other observers and officials from possessing their cellular phones during the recount.
“Apart from that, we have seen too their vehement opposition and the invocation of incredulous rationales regarding the live streaming of the recount. For a political grouping which has, on several occasions, pointed out that it emerged victorious, their actions hardly confirm their utterances. The Federation wishes to remind, in this regard, that actions speak louder than words,” FITUG posited.
It added, “We gather that the request for the observers’ presence has now been taken up at the highest levels. Presumably, we gather that to mean with President David Granger. It was the President himself who sought the recount ostensibly to clear up any doubt regarding the victor. Certainly, if the President were genuine, he would not hesitate in approving the request which was denied by his underlings. Understandably, any winner would want to demonstrate beyond any shadow of doubt that they fairly and credibly won an election. To do otherwise tells another story in itself.”
FITUG is urging that representatives of the CC and the IRI be allowed to travel to Guyana and to participate in the recount. Both organisations, incidentally, were invited by the Coalition to observe the elections in the first place and should not be shut out from this next stage in the ongoing electoral process.
Both Canadian and U.S. governments have been making similar calls with respect to the CC being allowed to observe the process.
