Sir Shridath hails GECOM chair for ‘marrying law to democracy’

REVERED Guyanese Diplomat, Sir Shridath Ramphal, has commended Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, for marrying “law to democracy” in directing that a declaration be made on the elections.

In a statement on Wednesday, Sir Ramphal applauded Justice Singh for “elevating the rule of law above all other considerations”. On Tuesday, Singh had asked Guyana’s Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, to prepare a report in keeping with Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act, Chapter 1:03.

The report is expected today and is a move that effectively paves the way for the official declaration of the election results by Justice Singh.

Meanwhile, Sir Ramphal said that the CARICOM Report on the recount of the votes of the March 2, General and Regional Elections, is more than a milestone in democracy in Guyana but is “a landmark in democratic ethics throughout CARICOM”.

He reminded that CARICOM has established itself as “the most legitimate interlocutors” in Guyana’s situation, even as the Region has a long-standing tradition of respect for the will of the people expressed through free and fair elections.

“The CARICOM scrutineers have gilded that pledge, and the Chairman of GECOM, in respecting the legalities their report ordained, has married law to democracy,” Sir Ramphal said.

“The outcome of the Guyana General Election 2020 must be an example — not only in Guyana but regionally and worldwide — of the strength of law and democracy.”
At the beginning of June, Sir Ramphal had urged citizens not to allow the country to slip into chaos as the elections near an end.

“I plead with all my fellow Guyanese not to allow our motherland to descend into the darkness of denial of the rule of law and regularity,” Sir Shridath had said in a terse statement. He further urged: “As Guyanese, we owe it to ourselves, to the Caribbean Community, which we have helped to bring to life, and to the wider global community whose respect we have earned as an enlightened democratic State, not to debase ourselves by descent into the pit of lawlessness.”