Guyana 'rigging' claim

BISHOP Benedict Singh of Georgetown has added his voice to those who have accused the Guyanese government of "fixing" last week's elections.
President Desmond Hoyte's People's National Congress has swept the board in the poll according to official figures. However, in a sharply worded rebuke, Bishop Singh, his Anglican counterpart, the Guyana Human Rights• Association and the Bar Association have expressed "profound disappointment at the manner in which the elections were conducted."
They went on to catalogue
and condemn the "familiar and sordid catalogue of widespread disenfranchisement, multiple voting, ejection of polling agents, threats, intimidation, violence and collusion by police and army personnel".
Other Caribbean leaders and diplomats have accused the Guyanese government of going through the motions of an election without ever risking defeat.
The President has, however, rejected the charges. He accused the bishops of failing to represent their churches, and of having personal motives for their criticisms.