Date for national recount soon

Within days, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is expected to announce the commencement date for the national recount of the ballots cast at the March 2 General and Regional Elections. The elections commission is currently considering a draft order even as it awaits communication from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat.
“The Guyana Elections Commission remains resolute at ensuring the recount exercise commences within the shortest possible time and concludes in an expeditious, credible and transparent manner,” GECOM’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Yolanda Ward said on Tuesday in a statement.

NO QUARANTINE REQUIRED
In that statement, Ward explained that the National COVID-19 Task Force’s (NCTF) decision to have the CARICOM high-level delegation undergo the World Health Organisation (WHO) approved reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests for COVID-19, has been communicated to the CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque. The CARICOM high-level team will not be quarantined as was previously mandated.
Ambassador LaRocque is now expected to communicate CARICOM’s decision to the Chairman of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh. “Ambassador Irwin LaRocque…will communicate to the GECOM Chairperson all decisions in this regard and the expected arrival of the team. Against this backdrop, once all the details have been finalised in relation to this matter, a commencement date for the national recount would be announced,” Ward said.

Initially, the task force had mandated that the CARICOM officials be quarantined upon their arrival to Guyana, but it has amended its decision on the intervention of President David Granger. The task force’s revised decision on the medical protocols for the CARICOM high-level team was communicated to the Chairman of GECOM by the Head of the NCTF, Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo.

“In his communication to the GECOM Chairperson, the Prime Minister explained that the reason for the review was based on the President’s insistence that, ‘nothing should be done, or appears to be done, that could delay the start of the recount process.’ As such, the task force has now provided two options for the CARICOM officials to utilise to ensure they are medically cleared in light of the COVID-19 pandemic before participating in the national recount,” Ward explained.

The CARICOM officials identified to participate in the recount of ballots will be required to undergo the WHO approved RT-PCR tests for COVID-19 in their respective home countries prior to their arrival in Guyana, and once those tests results are negative, they will be permitted entry. If any official is unable to have such medical test conducted in their home country, upon their arrival in Guyana, the Ministry of Public Health will facilitate the test here on the condition that the official self-quarantines for a maximum of 48 hours while the test results are being ascertained.

DRAFT ORDER
Meanwhile, at the level of the Commission, the Chairman of GECOM and the six elections commissioners are considering a draft order, which, when approved, will encompass the decisions of the Guyana Elections Commission on the national recount.

The Guyana Chronicle understands that government-nominated commissioner, Vincent Alexander, had placed a draft order on the table, however, opposition-nominated commissioner, Sase Gunraj, requested permission to submit amendments to the draft.
Those proposed amendments to the draft order were made on Tuesday, and submitted to Justice Singh and the other commissioners.

Though declining to provide a synopsis of the draft order, inclusive of his proposed amendments, Gunraj told the Guyana Chronicle that, “it encompasses the discussions and decisions of the commission.”

It was on April 3, 2020 that the elections commission took a decision to proceed with the national recount of the votes in the 10 Electoral Districts during the General and Regional Elections. That decision was taken in accordance with Article 162 (1) (b) of the Constitution of Guyana, which mandates the commission to “take such action as appear to it necessary or expedient to ensure impartiality, fairness and compliance with the provisions of the Constitution.” The GECOM Chair had made a commitment to the High Court that a recount would be done, as a result of contentions by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) that the tabulation of the Statements of Poll (SoPs) in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) was flawed. Based on the declarations made in the 10 Regions, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) secured the majority of the votes in the elections. In the interest of transparency and accountability, and in an effort to add further credibility to the electoral process, the decision was taken to proceed with the national recount after certain legal hurdles were overcome.

Three days after (April 6), the Elections Commission decided that it would be prudent to have CARICOM involved in the planned National Recount; not to supervise as previously approved, but to validate the process.

Further to that, the commission agreed that the Region Four votes will be tabulated simultaneously with the other nine regions. In her latest decisions, the GECOM Chair made it known that there will be no more than 10 workstations set up at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) – the site for the national recount. However, these 10 workstations will be subjected to the availability of the requisite equipment and technology to display the ballots.

Further to that, the GECOM Chair decided that each workstation would tabulate its own results, and for security reasons, all the workstations should be located inside the ACCC building. There will be no more than 14 persons assigned to a workstation, all of whom will be mandated to observe physical distancing, in addition to wearing to face masks. In arriving at her decision, Justice Singh not only took into consideration the COVID-19 emergency measures, but also the capacity of the conference centre and the proposals tabled by the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, and the Elections Commissioners – Vincent Alexander, Desmond Trotman, Charles Corbin, Bibi Shadick, Sase Gunraj and Robeson Benn.

Based on consultation with the National COVID-19 Task Force, the GECOM Chair also indicated that the workstations – which among other things would be responsible for tabulating the votes cast – will operate for a period of 10 hours daily from 8:00hrs to 18:00hrs daily.

There is a total of 2,339 ballot boxes, and according to the Chief Elections Officer, each ballot would need to be projected on a screen. However, before arriving at that stage, the contents of the ballot boxes would have to be examined to ascertain the number of electors on the list, the number of electors who voted, counting votes cast for both General and Regional Elections and validation of spoilt, questioned and rejected ballots. In his proposed operational plan, the workstations would operate simultaneously for a period of 10 hours daily (09:00hrs – 19:00hrs)