PSC in rapid attacks on GECOM

DESPITE issuing several releases and staging scores of live Facebook shows calling for a recount of votes cast at the 2020 General and Regional Elections, the Private Sector Commission (PSC), in an about-turn move on Monday, said that it is against a national recount.

A release sent out relayed that the PSC is of the opinion that it would be a “waste of time” for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to conduct a national recount as opposed to a recount of votes cast only in Region Four.

The PSC also said that three of the top elections officials, inclusive of Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, should be excluded from the process.

The position of the PSC, in its collective sense, runs against the Appeal Court ruling which was emphatic that GECOM must supervise any recount conducted as required by the Constitution.

“The PSC is fortified in this view by the fact that none of the several other international Observer Teams reported any irregular or unlawful conduct in respect of any other aspect of the electoral process other than the tabulation and declaration of the results of District 4 by Returning Officer Mingo,” the release stated.

“The PSC is, therefore, convinced that it would be an entire waste of time and wholly unnecessary for GECOM to conduct a recount of the ballots cast in any District other than District 4. The PSC holds that any request to extend the recount to Districts other than District 4 to be a deliberate, unreasonable and unacceptable attempt to delay the conclusion of the recount and urges GECOM to confine a recount to District 4.”

The Commission said that time is of the essence for a final declaration and reminded that the Court of Appeal has ruled that GECOM has the power to proceed with a recount of the ballots and urged GECOM to commence same promptly.

Like the Opposition, it put forward that involvement of Lowenfield; Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Roxanne Myers and District Four Returning Officer (RO), Clairmont Mingo, in the tabulation and verification process has “contributed to the fraudulent tabulation and verification of the process”.

The Commission requested that the mentioned individuals be excluded from the recounting process.

According to the Representation of the People Act, Section 96: “The Chief Election Officer shall calculate the total number of valid votes of electors which have been cast for each list of candidates and thereupon shall ascertain the result of the election in accordance with sections 97 and 98. 97.”
Meanwhile, the PSC and Opposition have harboured ill-feelings against Mingo since the breakdown in the tabulation of District Four votes after Mingo fell ill and was rushed to the hospital.

Nonetheless, the PSC said that it is committed to continuing to observe its preferred recount and called on the international community and all international observers to “resume their commitment and active presence to observe the recount.”

The country currently upholds a ban on all international travel into the country save for specific exceptions as countries around the world battle with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over 100 international observers from around the world were in the country in the lead up, commencement and conclusion of polling day on March 2, 2020. They departed the country between the stalemate of the recount of Region Four votes and rising global spread of the disease.

They now reside in the majority of the world’s countries which have imposed their own forms of international travel restrictions saved for special cases deemed priority by the varying governments.

The Elections Commission is still deliberating on the specific measures which should be put in place for local and possible international observers.

The PSC urged GECOM to set definitive timelines for the commencement of the recount and to accommodate the travel of international observers.

“Further, the restrictions to travel now imposed as a result of the COVID-19 virus would make the implementation of a countrywide recount of the ballots an almost insurmountable exercise which, as we have pointed out, is entirely frivolous and unnecessary,” the PSC stated.

“The PSC considers that the reality of the restrictions placed on international travel by the COVID-19 virus pandemic demands that arrangements are made for the recount proceedings to be broadcast live on radio and television and live-streamed for international reception by those Observer teams who are unable to be physically present at GECOM for the recount proceedings.”

The PSC said that it looks forward to actions upon same by the Elections Commission.