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The elections have left political parties and the population dissatisfied. One citizen was shot to death on Friday.
The Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) officials Friday created more controversy after presenting results in which the figures did not match the records of the polling places.
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Since "A Partnership for National Unity" (APNU), the ruling party, was widely favored by such figures, the opposition "People's Progressive Party" (PPP) requested a precautionary measure to prevent the alleged results from being officially certified as "definitive" without previously having the minutes verified vigorously.
Then Supreme Court President Roxane George-Wiltshire postponed knowledge of the PPP request until Saturday afternoon, which opened two possible scenarios.
On the one hand, if the Court decides that it has no jurisdiction over the electoral dispute, then the Gecom could declare definitive results and the incoming president could later take office.
On the other hand, if the Court rules in favor of the PPP request, then the opposition could appeal the validity of the results in national courts and, if necessary, the appeal could be directed towards the Caribbean Court of Justice.
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has not yet finished the vote-counting. Our correspondent Alejandro Kirk reports from the scene.#Guyana #GuyanaElections #GuyanaDecides pic.twitter.com/oUi6vkIaKr
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) March 7, 2020
In this latter scenario, the APNU leader David Granger would remain as Guyana's president until the legal dispute is completely resolved.
On Saturday morning, the Caribbean Community chairwoman Mia Amor said that the Guyanese electoral officials and political parties should work together to achieve a peaceful and lawful completion of the electoral process.
To do so, she suggested ensuring "the tabulation of the results in all regions using the statement of polls in a transparent manner in the presence of the representatives of the political parties and the electoral observers.”
These statements happened amidst a likely social upheaval that local authorities might not easily control if clashes occur between the African-descent population and the Indian-descent population.
On Friday night, the Guyana Police Force acknowledged that it had shot Seedat Hansraj after he allegedly tried to attack two police officers with a glass bottle in the rural West Coast Berbice region.
This 18-year-old citizen, who had been supporting the street protests since the afternoon, died.
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