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Vol. 31, Issue 12 BROOKLYN EDITION March 20-26, 2020
ELECTION
CRISIS
WORSENS
CARICOM team withdraws from
Guyana after court order
By Bert Wilkinson
Caribbean Community governments
Tuesday night withdrew
a special regional team of
electoral officials it had sent to
Guyana to supervise a recounting
of ballots in the highly
disputed March 2 general elections
after a court barred it
from participating in the exercise.
The elections commission in
a late night statement said that
the decision by the team to quit
followed a court injunction earlier
on Tuesday stopping the
commission from recounting
ballots in all 10 regions as leaders
from both of the major
parties had agreed to over the
weekend.
The agreement to recount
every single of the nearly
450,000 ballots followed a decision
of Caribbean community
leaders last week to mediate
in the simmering dispute
over who won the elections as
both the multiparty coalition
in power since mid 2015 and
the main opposition People’s
Progressive Party (PPP) had
claimed victory at the polls.
Attorneys for the two sides
are to argue their case in the
supreme court on Friday. The
commission said it is fully ready
to begin the recount as was
the case on Tuesday before the
injunction was filed by attorneys
close to the administration.
It also said it remains just
as ready to begin the recount
should all barriers be removed
in the coming days.
The latest developments
mean that there is no official
declaration of a winner 16 days
after locals voted for a new government.
It also means that no president
can be sworn in until after
the impasse is cleared up.
Talk of a negotiated settlement
by an independent,
outside good offices broker is
beginning to surface as there
is general agreement among
knowledgeable people and veterans
in the coalition and the
PPP that neither party would
be able to run the country
comfortably giving the racial
and political divide. Some form
of unity government might be
the answer they say.
An earlier declaration that
had given the coalition a second
five-year term has been
Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke. Photo by Nelson A. King
Clarke: Practice coronavirus
recommended precautions
By Nelson A. King
As New York City mourns
the first death caused by coronavirus
(COVID19), Brooklyn
Congresswoman Yvette D.
Clarke is urging nationals to
practice recommended precautions
by health care experts
and professionals.
“Now more than ever, it is
important that our community
practices the recommended
precautions instructed by
health care experts and professionals,”
said Clarke, the daughter
of Jamaican immigrants,
said on Saturday. “COVID19 is
a respiratory disease that can
spread person to person.
“People can become infected
when the respiratory droplets
are transferred by sneezing or
coughing,” added the representative
for the 9th Congressional
District in Brooklyn. “I
encourage my constituents
to practice social distancing,
refrain from going to large
gatherings and continuously
wash their hands thoroughly.”
Clarke said the deceased
patient, an elderly woman,
with emphysema, was considered
at-risk.
She had been in critical condition
since her diagnosis as
one of New York City’s first
coronavirus patients, the congresswoman
said.
“I can’t thank the doctors,
nurses and staff at Wyckoff
Medical Center and throughout
the city enough for the
measures taken to protect and
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