GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — Internationally renowned human and civil rights activist Dr Joseph Beasley has called on all external forces to allow Guyana’s electoral process to be completed by the people of this country.

He also beckoned all Guyanese to come together to ensure that their actions during this time, do not lead to the senseless loss of life and property and the destabilisation of the nation.

Beasley is an American civil rights activist and a leading humanitarian, who also serves as president of African Ascension.  He was an observer in South Africa’s 1994 elections that culminated with the end of Apartheid and also observed elections in countless nations including in Haiti, Zambia, and most recently, South Africa in 2019.

On Sunday, Beasley said he was saddened to hear of the country’s political crisis following the recent polls and said that his organisation, with partners in Guyana, was concerned that outside forces were involved in the process.

“The people should lead the election process, not Western powers. We are also concerned that the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Canada were the first parties to decry the integrity of the election outcome following their announcement and not the people of Guyana,” Beasely said.

According to him, “We interpret their statements before and immediately after the vote count as sinister, and bias towards one group of the political elite over the other and immediately demand that these Western Nations cease forthwith from issuing statements that can destabilise the nation of Guyana.”

He said members of the diplomatic corps should channel their recommendations through the traditional diplomatic channels as provided for under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and not through press advisory and releases.

Beasley also called on all parties to follow the constitutional process, noting that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) had announced the vote outcome as mandated by the constitution.

He related that the people of Guyana back in 2015 had elected  President David Granger without the support or interference of Western nations.

“We call on the people to come together to develop frameworks on how to ensure that the discovery of oil leads to their shared prosperity as a nation and not permit Western powers to dictate their terms of engagement with each other. Libya is a reminder that Western allies, when left unchecked, are not allies in any nation’s contested political process but interested parties,” the statement said.

His organisation, he said, believes that the political direction of Guyana belongs to the people of Guyana and that the “political elite” should work together to ensure it remains that way for them and their future generations.