Gecom Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally said that while the commission will move expeditiously to declare the results of the upcoming General Elections it will not sacrifice accuracy to do so.
This was its response to the PPP call at a meeting on Monday with Gecom for an earlier declaration of the elections results.
The Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) called the meeting with the PPP team to continue discussions on outstanding matters fast on the heels of the previous meeting held on Monday January 12, a press release said.
The release said that the PPP supported a call by other stakeholders for the earlier declaration of the elections results, submitting that establishing and maintaining a proper communication network would positively impact on such an outcome, particularly regarding the transmission of results from remote hinterland communities. Dr Surujbally informed that although Gecom is committed to declaring the elections results as soon as possible, it would not sacrifice accuracy upon the altar of expediency recalling that Section 99 of the Representation of the People Act, Chapter 1:3 allocated 15 days for Gecom to relay the official results.
The party also asked the commission to review the procedure relative to treating with applications for the granting of proxies as proxies were issued to persons who were ineligible at the 2011 polls. It then cited a few examples of such occurrences. In response, Gecom advised that a few occurrences should not be interpreted as the norm and it committed to undertaking a review of the existing procedure with a view to developing an even more secure methodology to treat such applications.
The PPP also expressed concerns about the practice of all polling stations within a particular polling place being provided with copies of the combined alpha-split Lists of Electors pertinent to that polling place as this could allow electors to vote at more than one polling station as his/her name would be listed in all of the relevant polling stations. Gecom assured the meeting that it had already dealt with the issue and had decided that each polling station would be furnished with the alpha-split List of Electors that would be voting at the respective polling stations. The issue is relevant only to polling places with more than one polling stations.
Meanwhile, Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield assured all party representatives that party agents would be allowed to monitor all stages of packing, sealing and transporting of ballot boxes before Election Day and the opening of the boxes on Election Day by the commission’s personnel, in keeping with its standard operating procedures. Lowenfield noted that the party agents would have to be properly accredited before they would be allowed to participate.
The PPP also submitted that the law authorizes the Returning Officer for each of the ten electoral districts to declare the results of the elections for his/her district and that the Chief Election Officer is not empowered to make changes to the declarations. In response, Gecom assured the meeting that the law also provides for returning officers to consult on their relevant/respective tabulations with the CEO before making declarations. Accordingly, the CEO is vested with the responsibility to confirm that the tabulations before the respective declarations are made at the district level.
According to Gecom, the PPP repeated its request made at an earlier meeting, for the commission to publish the names of persons it intends to employ to work for the upcoming elections. The commission gave no indication whether it would respond positively to this request.
In addition to the chairman and CEO, the Gecom team comprised commissioners Dr Keshav Mangal, Vincent Alexander, Sandra Jones, Charles Corbin, Mohamood Shaw, Athmaram Mangar, Deputy Chief Election Officer, Vishnu Persaud and the Commission’s Legal Officer Juanita Baker.
The PPP team was led by General Secretary Clement Rohee and included Zulficar Mustapha, Ganga Persaud, Manzoor Nadir, Juan Edghilll, Sheila Versammy and Devanand Ramdatt.
