After an uproar over the proposed 156 days for a recount of ballots from the March 2nd general elections, the opposition-nominated members of the Guyana Elections Com-mission (GECOM) yesterday presented for discussion a counter proposal which would reduce the number of days for the process to 10.
The main elements of the proposal are that the recount would be conducted using 20 workstations operating for 12 hours with an estimate average of one hour per ballot box. The Commissioners have also suggested that either the Audit Office of Guyana or an accredited audit firm be present throughout the process which is to be televised, broadcast and streamed by GECOM.
Widely-condemned declarations for District Four by its Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo has left the certifying of a final result in disarray and led to fears that an attempt would be made to swear in Presi-dent David Granger on rigged results. This possibility has triggered a series of court actions and a commitment by the GECOM Chair Claudette Singh for a recount of District Four. Both sides of the Commission have since agreed on a recount of all 10 districts. In the meanwhile Guyana has been explicitly warned by the US, the UK, the EU, Canada and CARICOM against an illegal swearing in and the consequences of such.
While all persons who are entitled to be present under Section 86 of the Representation of the People Act would be invited, concessions are expected to be made for social distancing and hygiene protocols in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic.
This proposal counters that which was presented by Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield on Wednesday to strong criticism. Lowenfield’s proposal utilized three workstations for 10 hours per day with an estimated average of two hours per ballot box. The public has not been informed whether Lowenfield made provisions for the recount to be publicized. The Commission has however committed to re-engaging all the local and international observer who had been present for the March 2 poll as well as extending an invitation to the Carib-bean Community (CARICOM) to validate the process.
According to Commissioner Sase Gunraj the reduction in time for each ballot box was based on the fact that some boxes have as little as 50 ballots.
“There are over 1,000 ballot boxes in which there are less than 200 ballots cast. In fact there are more than two hundred boxes that have less than 50 ballots cast. As a consequence, the time for counting of those boxes could not be as burdensome as two hours, all things considered,” he explained.
He also explained that while the CEO’s proposal would see three Electoral Districts being tabulated simultaneously the Opposition proposal would have a parallel process involving the largest electoral district, Region 4 and all other districts.
“The number of stations would be split in half. Let us start numerically at ½ of the tables so Regions One, two and three and at the other ½ lets us count Region 4,” he posited. This proposition was premised on the fact that Region 4 with 879 polling places would have more ballot boxes than five of the other district combined.
In the time it would take to count Region 4 the secretariat could also count Regions One with 99 boxes, Region Two with 135 boxes, Region Three with 355 boxes, Region Five with 158 boxes and possibly Region Seven with 83 boxes all things being equal. Region 6 has 378 boxes.
The Opposition and other stakeholders including the Private Sector Commission (PSC) have been calling for the recount to be limited to Region 4 since it is only this Region whose declared results have been labelled as fraudulent.
In a statement on Monday, the PSC said that a national recount was an entire waste of time and wholly unnecessary.
Notably the proposal as described by Gunraj would allow for tabulation of almost all of the Regions with contested results at the same time.
The Coalition had requested recounts in Regions three, five and six. None of these have occurred.
Gunraj further explained that the CEO’s suggestion of three workstations was based on a request from a Commissioner to have two members of the commission supervise each station. Since there are six Commissioners there could therefore only be three stations.
Government-nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander identified the Commissioner who made the request as opposition-nominated Commissioner Robeson Benn and lamented the fact that Benn publicly “lambasted” Lowenfield for acting on directives received from the Commission.
In the end after nearly eight hours of discussion the Commission had decided only that the Arthur Chung Convention Centre would remain the location for the recount.
Gunraj explained that an examination of the space available at the compound would be done to provide for the various logistics such as the possible location of the various workstations.
Lowenfield has been tasked with restructuring his proposal in light of the new parameters discussion during the meeting. His new proposal will be presented at a meeting which is yet to be scheduled.
