GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — President David Granger yesterday indicated he will accept the results of the March 2 election once declared by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

Speaking with reporters on the sidelines of the opening of a new COVID-19 hospital here, he pointed out that his acceptance of the declaration is not conditional on whether it goes in his favour or not.

Granger’s A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition has used the courts to try to get GECOM to declare results other than the recount figures which show the Opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has won.

“With respect, my statements on compliance with the declaration wasn’t conditional, I didn’t say if the rain is falling or the sun is shining, you know, if it comes by day or by night, I am obliged to observe the declaration of the chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission.”

The president in the past committed to accepting the national vote recount figures which show the PPP winning the elections by more than 15,000 votes but agents of Granger have moved to the court to block GECOM from using the figures.

At the same time, leader of the main Opposition People’s Progressive Party, Bharrat Jagde welcomed a ruling by Guyana’s Court of Appeal in which it upheld the decision which stated that the national vote recount is valid.

“We are pleased that the decision was unanimous in this regard,” Jagdeo said during a virtual briefing moments after the judgement was handed down.

In dismissing the appeal as being frivolous and vexatious, the Court of Appeal also upheld that the Chief Elections Officer, as an employee of GECOM, must do as he is told by the commission.

He said that even in the face of a 24-hour stay granted by the Court of Appeal, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) must now move ahead with declaring the winner of the elections, in keeping with the recount figures.

Earlier this month, Guyana’s highest court – the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) — ruled that votes already counted during the national recount of votes are valid and should form the basis of a declaration of a winner.

Local and international stakeholders have collectively called for the recount results to be used as the basis for a declaration. The coalition is seeking to have the court approve the use of 10 regional declarations which handed it a victory based on fraudulent numbers.