President Irfaan Ali and his PPP/C government have been hauled in for their “hypocritical” reception of the European Union’s Election Observer Mission’s report on the 2025 general and regional elections, which has outlined the administration’s high-handedness in successfully claiming the September 1 polls.
Criticising the political unit for its double standard, A Partnership for National Unity Member of Parliament and co-leader of the Working People’s Alliance, Dr David Hinds said Monday that the PPP is showing each day how it is prepared to manipulate Guyanese and external forces.
During his appearance on “MP morning with Dr David Hinds” on KAMs TV, the political leader pointed out the hypocrisy of government.The observer report which was released last week, shared, among other things, the political polarisation and uneven playing field in Guyana, which it said, reduced public confidence in the election process.
The EU EOM team was in Guyana from late July to late September, observing pre and post election activities. In its final report on the elections, the observer mission found that the level playing field was distorted by an “undue advantage of incumbency, misuse of state resources, and under-regulated, weakly enforced campaign finance rules.
The politicised structure of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and insufficient communication undermined confidence among opposition parties, compounded by some concerns about the accuracy of the voter list. Traditional and online media environment was vibrant but antagonistic, with pro-government bias and limited rules on equitable access,” the report noted.
To address the challenges, the observer mission highlighted a few recommendations calling for key electoral reforms through necessary electoral expertise, update of the voter list in light of most recent available population data, the adoption of clear and comprehensive campaign rules, and the strengthening of the operational oversight for campaign finance through an independent oversight body, among other recommendations.
But neither the observation nor recommendations were accepted by the government. President Ali in a scathing rebuke of the report last week, challenged the findings as “unfounded claims.”
Dr Hinds said the PPP was singing a different tune in 2020, where, although those elections were also flawed, the EU and other observer groups validated the PPP rather than point out what went wrong with the elections. He said when the PPP speaks about winning the 2020 elections, it usually points to the external forces validating its win.
“They were prepared in 2020 to use the external observers as the validation of them winning an election, which everyone know was rigged to a T. And we know that because of that controversial order 60 which may have been unconstitutional . But when those boxes were opened as a result of order 60, it showed that the PPP had rigged the elections long before election day, and we say to them here is the evidence, they said “external observers said we won.”
Dr Hinds said the PPP is two-sided for now condemning the very mission they embraced a few years ago.
“When in 2020 they said you won, but left out stolen, you praised them. Now they said you won, but they say the election was stolen, you’re beating them up. What it shows , is the contempt of this government for its own citizens and for the international forces. The international forces will have to decide how they will deal with that contempt.”
He continued. “What the EU report said, is that you won, but you won a robbing race. You won a stolen election. And how does the EU know that? The EU is saying that the system under which the elections were conducted is a rigged system, a flawed system, a broken system. So, you won a rigged election.” Dr David Hinds on the EU EOM report.
“You cannot have a proper election with a flawed voters list. You cannot win an election when you alone have access to state resources which you’re using without any concern about what anybody thinks. You cannot win an election, when you control 90 odd percent of the media space and you use your authority to keep others out, and that is what the EU is saying.”
Dr Hinds said the PPP does not want to change the flawed system that it benefits from, and “so therefore, don’t expect them to come and say , look we are going to agree to free and fair elections”
He said it is up to Guyanese to decide how they will use the report by the EU to mount a movement for clean elections in Guyana. (Release)
