Law does not prevent GECOM from live streaming recount

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is legally empowered to stream the national recount live for the benefit of the general public.
That is the argument being put forward, in response to GECOM Chair, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh saying that the law does not allow her to have the recount streamed live.

In her explanation for her rejection of the proposal, the former Justice of Appeal cited Section 90 of the Representation of the People Act, which speaks to the maintenance of the secrecy of the count.
That section states that “Every person attending at the count of votes shall maintain and not communicate any information obtained at the count as to the list of candidates for which any vote has been given.”

“Because of the secrecy, they cannot show the ballot but what they can do, they can show the results after the results would have been tabulated, I have no problem with that,” Justice Singh recently told the State newspaper, Guyana Chronicle.

But Attorney-at-Law and People’s Progressive Party (PPP) candidate, Sanjeev Datadin is of the view that section 90 is not applicable to the live streaming of the recount in the way that Singh is implying.
Datadin told Kaieteur News in a telephone interview that the ballot paper does not contain an identifier of the voter. Hence, showing the ballot paper would not expose the identity of any of the candidates who have voted for one party or another.

This was the view also of attorney-at-law, Christopher Ram.
Datadin noted that Section 90 is applicable where it prohibits persons attending the count from declaring any of the results, as that is the sole remit of GECOM.

He explained that GECOM would be in its right to stream its own recount, and that Section 90 does nothing to advance the argument that the recount should not be streamed live.
In a telephone interview, Ram told Kaieteur News that GECOM has the authority to stream the recount and that, in any case, GECOM is empowered by the Constitution of Guyana and the Election Laws (Amendment) Act to take action necessary to ensure a fair, transparent and impartial process.

Chair of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Captain Gerry Gouveia, also argued that GECOM has the authority to take action necessary to see the process through.
The PSC is a domestic observer of the 2020 general and regional elections.

Gouveia said, too, that it is vitally important that transparency be a hallmark on which the recount is executed.
He added that such a task would not be difficult, as Guyana has the technology and the capability to ensure it is easily done. He put it to the Chair that even if she would not stream the recount to the public, that it should be streamed live for the benefit of the international observers only. This would go a long way, he said, to ensure the electoral process benefits from international accreditation.

Article 162 of the Constitution states that the electoral commission “shall issue such instructions and take such action as appear to it necessary or expedient to ensure impartiality, fairness and compliance with the provisions of this Constitution or of any Act of Parliament” where the Commission’s general direction and supervision over the electoral process are concerned.

Section 22 of the Election Laws (Amendment) Act speaks to ‘Removal of Difficulties’, and states “If any difficulty arises in connection with the application of this Act, the Representation of the People Act or the National Registration Act or any relevant subsidiary legislation, the Commission shall, by Order, make any provision, including the amendment of the said legislation, that appears to the Commission to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty; and any such order may modify any of the said legislation in respect of any particular matter or occasion so far as may appear to the Commission to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty.”

These legal provisions are already at the center of GECOM’s deliberations on the recount, as Commissioner Vincent Alexander noted them as the basis on which GECOM will conduct the recount. Singh also noted the Constitutional provision in her affidavit to the Court, committing to conduct the recount.
Ram told Kaieteur News that GECOM is hereby empowered to override section 90 of the Representation of the People Act.

He said that the purpose of the recount is to satisfy the issues of fairness and transparency, and that it is on that basis that GECOM should stream the recount live.