Emphasising that the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) administration subscribes to electoral transparency and accountability, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall says the Guyana Government will invite as many of the reputable international observer missions to observe the upcoming polls.
Speaking during his weekly programme ‘Issues in the News’ on Tuesday evening, Nandlall welcomed the announcement that the Carter Center, which was founded by the late former US President Jimmy Carter, will be sending an observer team to Guyana for the September 1 General and Regional Elections.
“Many more international observer teams will be invited and will be welcomed to observe the elections,” Nandlall said, noting that the PPP has “nothing to hide.”
“We want transparency,” the Attorney General highlighting, reminding that transpired during previous elections.
“The Peoples Progressive Party fought 28 years to get observers to come here because for 28 years the PNC rigged the elections and they did not want observers to be present and they blocked observers out. It’s only in 1992 after 28 years of being in the trenches and struggles that one of the things that we won was the right to invite international observers to come and observe the elections and every year since then, we have had that…,” Nandlall explained.
He noted that in 2020, the then PNC-led APNU+AFC administration blocked out international observers for the recount exercise, which began some two months after the March 2 polls.
“In 2020, remember it was during the Covid [pandemic] and by their shenanigans, they delayed the declaration of the results, when the Carter Center and the other observer teams left, they blocked them from attending the recount which took place some two months after,” Nandlall said.
In May 2020, the Carter Center said it was deeply disappointed by the then APNU+AFC Government’s decision not to approve its recent requests to allow two accredited international observers to return to Guyana to observe the ongoing recount and the remainder of Guyana’s electoral process.
According to Nandlall, the presence of observer missions is important to certify the elections as free, fair and democratic.
“We know who the electoral miscreants are and we know what their capabilities, tendencies and proclivities are. So, the more the observer teams, the safer the electoral process,” he said.
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