Hemispheric securityGuyana: U.S. Imposes Sanctions as President Granger Refuses to Accept Election Defeat

On Wednesday, U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo announced that the United States was imposing sanctions on the current government of Guyana, led by President David Granger and his APNU party, after the refusal of Granger and his supporters to accept the results of the March election, which saw the opposition PPP, led by Irfaan Ali, winning the election by about 16,000 votes.

Pompeo said it was time for Granger to step aside, announcing travel bans “against those undermining democracy in the country, or complicit in doing so”. He said the country was on “a non-democratic trajectory.”

The sanctions included denial of access to the United States for officials the U.S. Department consider to be actively engaged in undermining Guyanese democracy.

The U.S. ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch, said she would not be providing the names of the people who will have their visas revoked by the U.S. government, or the number of people targeted, but said that the restrictions apply to these individuals’ family members.

The Guardian reported that the United States was exerting pressure on the United Kingdom to join the sanction regime being developed by the United States against the former British colony.  

In the meantime, political supporters of the defeated president, David Granger, continue in their efforts to make the March election appear as if Granger had won.

The chief executive of Guyana’s electoral commission, Keith Lowenfield, for example – in what critics note as his sixth attempt to alter the election results — disqualified 120,000 votes, nearly a fifth of those cast, handing the contested victory to Granger.

Last week, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Guyana’s final appellate court, overruled Lowenfield and annulled his effort to disqualify votes by supporters of the PPP. But now another legal challenge has been mounted by Granger supporters in a last-ditch effort to prevent the electoral commission from declaring that Granger has been defeat.

The ethnic base of the two parties – APNU generally represents the Afro Guyanese, while the PPP draws its support mostly from Guyanese whose ancestors came to Guyana from India – making the transition of power more difficult.

Another difficulty is the fact that huge oil reserves were discovered in the ocean off the Guyanese coast, making Granger and his supporters even more reluctant to leave power.

Caribbean leaders have been unanimous in their criticism of Granger’s attempts to remain in power.

Ralph Gonsalves, the prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines and chair of the regional Caribbean Community (CARICOM) political grouping, said: “A rogue clique within Guyana cannot be allowed to disrespect or disregard, with impunity, the clear, unambiguous ruling of the CCJ. The time for decisive action is shortly upon us.”

He continued:

“In a normal democracy, what should be a straightforward matter of counting votes has become the equivalent of a long-running soap opera, pregnant with real danger for the people of Guyana and the Caribbean Community. This charade ought to be brought to an end immediately and a just declaration made by GECOM [Guyana Election Commission] in keeping with the clear mandate delivered by the voters of Guyana and in accord with the Laws of Guyana and the CCJ’s judgment.”

The Organization of American States has also issued a statement accusing Lowenfield of acting in bad faith.

“The only democratic solution for Guyana at this time is respect for the results of the national recount,” the OAS said. “No other figures – neither those prepared prior to the recount, nor those recently invalidated by the Caribbean court of justice, nor any others that may be unilaterally devised by the chief elections officer – can have any place in the final determination of results. A new electoral process is also an unacceptable solution.”