US Democrats, Republicans both insist recount be used for declaration

Elections in the United States are due in November of this year. However, if some believe that a change in administration would mean a change in US policy of pushing for democracy in Guyana, a US lobbyist has warned, such beliefs are mistaken.

This view was expressed by Jonathan Slade, a Democratic partner in the Washington-based Cormac Group. Slade made it clear that he is not only a Democrat who supports Democratic candidate Joe Biden, but he also has experience in foreign policy issues.
“I feel obliged to inform the people of Guyana that the Democratic Party has always strongly championed democracy and human rights. I do this because, apparently, some unauthorised individuals in Georgetown or Washington are pretending to speak for Vice President Biden, with no regard to his long history of support for free elections and the alternation of power,” he wrote.

“From Jimmy Carter to Bill Clinton to Barack Obama, Democratic Presidents have always supported free elections and a peaceful transition when an opposition party receives the majority of the votes cast. If Joe Biden wins the US election in November, he will undoubtedly carry on this tradition,” Slade wrote.
In fact, Slade recalled previous statements Biden had made in July, in which he had said that if he was elected, he would “revitalise our national commitment to advancing human rights and democracy around the world.”
Slade pointed out that additionally, Biden had, a few months ago, said that in his first year, he would host a Global Summit for Democracy, to “strengthen democratic institutions.”

He therefore noted that persons should not take comfort in believing that if current US President Donald Trump leaves office, sanctions and pressure will suddenly be lifted off the backs of those trying to rig elections in Guyana.
“If Biden wins the November election and the Granger Government is still grasping (at) power, there will be no basis for the new US Administration to reverse the sanctions on Guyana put in place by the Trump Administration. There is no doubt in my mind that a new President Biden will follow in the footsteps of his Democratic predecessors and support the outcome of the election in Guyana of March 2020, as ratified by the recount of June.”

Slade added that the people of Guyana should not be fooled by a political cabal illegally clinging to power. “Whether Trump or Biden wins in November, the US sanctions in Guyana will stay in place unless the legitimate winner of the March elections is acknowledged and allowed to form a new Government,” he said.

Bipartisan
Slade also emphasised that both Democrat and Republican sides of the political aisle in Washington are expressing concern at the attempts to rig Guyana’s election in favour of the incumbent government. In fact, he likened Granger’s refusal to withhold power to Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro’s own grip on power.
He added that the refusal of the Granger Government to concede the loss and peacefully hand over power is disturbing to Americans, whether Democrats or Republicans.

“In reaction to a similar situation next door to Guyana, in Venezuela, Democrats in the US Congress have joined with their Republican colleagues in rejecting the Maduro regime’s fraudulent elections and recognising Juan Guaidó as the legitimate President of Venezuela,” he wrote.

“Most Senate and House Democrats have supported the successive Bush, Obama, and Trump Administration injunctions on Venezuela, including the revocation of visas and oil sanctions. The Granger Government’s attempted power grab in Guyana is not that different from how the Maduro regime acted in Venezuela. The Granger Government’s legitimacy has been questioned since it did not call for speedy elections after it lost a vote of confidence back in late 2018.”

He pointed out that, since 2019, President Granger has disregarded the Constitution which stipulated that elections should have been held in three months’ time. Slade noted that this has not gone unnoticed in Washington.
Elections were held more than a year later, and Granger’s A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) claimed victory off of a discredited Region Four declaration.

“International observers were appalled it took over two months to work out the details of the recount. Even more concerning, international observers were deeply disappointed that the Granger Government allowed only Caricom back into the country to observe the recount, and refused others, like the well-respected Carter Center.
“When the long overdue recount finally occurred, most Washington policymakers and International observers were shocked that, once again, Granger and his party refused to accept defeat.”
Slade described the efforts of Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield, who dumped over 115,000 votes from the recount in order to give Granger a win, as “one of the most outrageous attempts to undermine elections ever seen in the non-communist world.”

The lobbyist reeled off the long list of both Democratic and Republican politicians who have called for the certified results of the recount to be used to declare a winner of the elections.
Even the members of the Congressional Black Caucus have called for the results of the elections to be respected by the two major parties. However, Slade noted that only one of those parties has respected the results.
The certified recount has shown that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) won the March 2 General and Regional Elections by more than 15,416 votes. However, most of the APNU/AFC operatives have refused to accept defeat, and have taken to the courts to drag out the process, much like last year, when APNU/AFC utilised the courts in a futile attempt to delay holding elections.