Guyana was added to the list of countries calling for the “transparent” verification of results from the Venezuelan elections, where the incumbent, Nicolas Maduro is said to have emerged victorious.
“Elections are about people exercising their constitutional right to elect a government of their choice in a free, fair and transparent process…. Guyana therefore, supports the call for a transparent process of verification of the will of the Venezuelan people as exercised on July 28, 2024. The people of Venezuela deserve nothing less,” the Irfaan Ali-led government urged.
Uncertainty surrounds the elections there as both Maduro and the Opposition claimed victories. Elvis Amoroso, head of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, said Maduro secured 51% of the vote, overcoming Gonzalez who garnered 44%. But Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, banned from running for office, said her candidate Edmundo Gonzalez won 70% of the vote.
A July 30 statement from the Carter Center said it could not “verify or corroborate the results of the election declared by the National Electoral Council (CNE), and the electoral authority’s failure to announce disaggregated results by polling station constitutes a serious breach of electoral principles.”
The call from Guyana also coincided with the start of its election fraud case, four years after the March 2020 polls.
Nine individuals are currently facing court proceedings related to electoral fraud. These individuals include former APNU+AFC government minister Volda Lawrence, former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, former GECOM Returning Officer for District Four Clairmont Mingo, former GECOM Deputy Chief Election Officer Roxanne Myers, APNU+AFC’s Chief Scrutineer Carol Smith Joseph, and former GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Liven, Michelle Miller, and Denise Babb-Cummings.
They are charged with nine counts of conspiracy allegedly committed between March 2, 2020, and August 2, 2020, during the 2020 General and Regional elections. The charges state that the defendants conspired to defraud the electors of Guyana by declaring a false account of votes cast.
Recount shows Guyana opposition secured majority of votes in elections
At the time, local and international observers, heads of governments and stakeholder groups all declared that attempts to alter the results of the election were clearly underway. They condemned the efforts and called on the then David Granger administration to respect the will of the people.
