Guyanese President-Elect Sworn InAssociated Press Writer Friday, December 19, 1997; 8:13 p.m. EST GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) -- Just hours after winning the election, an American expatriate was sworn in as Guyana's president Friday, a hasty action aimed at preventing opponents from blocking her rise to power. Janet Jagan, the widow of the late President Cheddi Jagan, was declared the winner of Monday's vote at noon Friday, despite allegations of election fraud by opposition parties. She was inaugurated at 3:15 p.m. As Mrs. Jagan gave a victory speech an hour later at her official residence, two court officers showed up with an injunction to stop the swearing-in ceremony. The officers traded shoves and shouts with security guards as Mrs. Jagan's supporters jeered. Mrs. Jagan, 77, took the court papers herself and tossed them over her shoulder. Elections commission Chairman Doodnauth Singh said the inauguration was held quickly and privately, not only to beat the court order, but to avoid a repeat of violence between police and protesters Thursday night. Eleven people were injured when police fired pellets and tear gas at protesters who claimed Monday's election was rigged, police said. Singh declared Mrs. Jagan the winner with about 343,000, or 90 percent, of the votes counted in this South American country. Mrs. Jagan's People's Progressive Party had 56 percent to 42 percent for ex-President Desmond Hoyte's People's National Congress, according to the elections commission. After a winner was declared, the PNC sought a court injunction to stop further vote counting, alleging widespread vote-rigging. ``The PNC will not accept it at all,'' said Hoyte, who demanded a recount. Tabulation of results had been delayed by technicalities and challenges by party poll-watchers. Despite the protests, officials from the Organization of American States, one of two international groups that monitored Monday's election, said the voting had been conducted fairly. In her victory speech, Mrs. Jagan struck a conciliatory note, trying to win over opponents who distrust a U.S.-born white politician in a country where politics has often been a struggle between the two main ethnic groups of East Indian and African descent. ``Let me say that I intend to be a president of all the people,'' she said to the crowd of supporters and media gathered outside her residence. A group of protesters, kept at a distance by police, was unconvinced. ``We don't want her because her passport has an eagle on it and our own has the coat of arms,'' said Carolita Adams, referring to the U.S. and Guyanese passport insignias. Mrs. Jagan lost her U.S. citizenship when she voted in Guyana in 1947. She has spent more than 50 years in Guyana, however, and became prime minister after her husband's death in March. She served in Parliament for 30 years. She was jailed with her husband in the 1950s, when he first won an election but was cheated out of power by British and U.S. administrations alarmed by his ties to Cuba and Russia.
© Copyright 1997 The Associated Press
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