Former Speaker of the National Assembly, Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran is adamant that the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) will not succeed in its efforts to reverse the results of the national recount of all ballots cast in the March 02, 2020, General and Regional elections which clearly show a win in favour of the Opposition, People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C).
“APNU will not succeed in its efforts to reverse the results of the Recount; and shared governance will not be achieved by the light touch of a Madame Chancellor/President or on the rubble of burnt out ballot boxes,” said Ramkarran in his most recent writings.
In the writings published on Saturday, the Senior Counsel said, too, that the most recent case filed by the APNU at the Court of Appeal or any other case that may be later filed, such as an election petition, will not overturn the results of the 2020 elections.
He noted, “The reason is because the elections were free, fair and credible, as they have all been since 1992, notwithstanding the allegations that have been made by the loser, or anyone else, after every election.” Ramkarran then reminded that there was an audit of the 1997 elections as part of the Herdmanston Accord, supervised by Justice Ulric Cross of Trinidad and Tobago, and he found no fraud.
Ramkarran, who is also the Presidential Candidate for A New and United Guyana (ANUG), a small political party which contested the 2020 elections, further reminded that the challenge to the validity of thousands of votes cast in the 1997 elections which was filed by Esther Perreira, shortly after the audit, was also rejected. An audit, as described by the CARICOM team in its Report, was again conducted, this time on the 2020 elections, and the results did not sustain the allegations of fraud, he pointed out.
According to him, APNU won two seats less than a majority and just under 50 percent of the votes, significantly more than its usual 40-42 percent. He further said that the AFC would clearly have contributed significantly to the increased support. And that, the results of the elections prove that the AFC’s still significant core support aided APNU+AFC in limiting the PPP/C’s victory to one seat.
The Senior Counsel opined that the foregoing is nothing to be ashamed about because if the PPP/C fails in government and the APNU+AFC engages in creative political innovations, it may be able to return to office soon, though their current antics, which are creating fear and despondency among their supporters, are not likely to win them friends. To this end, he noted, too, that victimology is a dead end.
“APNU+AFC needs to abandon the course of driving fear, despondency and false hopes into its supporters and should gear up to provide a vigorous, creative, forward looking opposition which will defend the interests of the people and hold the Government to account. More inclusive governance will aid, not hinder, this posture,” Ramkarran underscored.
