The long-awaited recount of votes from the March 2 general elections will be conducted using no more than 10 workstations, according to the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), retired judge Claudette Singh, but it remains unclear when the process will begin and how long it will last.
As the April 30 constitutional deadline for the commencement of a new Parliament draws closer and the elections crisis drags on, the country becomes even more anxious for the process to conclude but decisions at the level of the Commission continue to be slow.
The decisions to use that number of stations was communicated via email to the six other members of the Commission. In the email, Singh said that she had considered all the circumstances in light of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the requirement of social distancing and decided that there should be no more than 10 work stations.
She added that the number will be subject to the availability of the requisite equipment and technology to display the ballots. Each work station will also be expected to tabulate its own results and for security reasons, all the work stations shall be located inside the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) building.
The decision does not align with any of the suggestions presented to the commission and instead presents as a compromise between the two extremes.
The Chair had been asked to decide between proposals from the Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield, who had suggested five stations, the opposition-nominated commissioners who had floated 20 stations and government-nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander who recommended eight stations.
Each of the three proposals included significantly different timelines for the completion of the process. The opposition-nominated commissioners’ proposal had projected a 10 day recount while the CEO’s had projected in excess of 100 days. Alexander had suggested between 32 to 64 days.
Singh’s decision does not include a timeline. Instead, the email notes that that she has written to Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo in his capacity as Chair of the COVID-19 Task Force with some specific requests relative to the proposed working hours in light of the curfew and for guidance on the occupancy of the ACCC.
‘Worrying’
The lack of a timeline is, however, according to opposition-nominated Commissioner Sase Gunraj, worrying.
He told Stabroek News that the nation had waited anxiously on the decision of the Chairman only to receive an email which was scant on details and created more uncertainty.
“The least everyone expected to hear was a commencement date for the recount,” he stressed, adding that there were several other issues that required the decision of the Chairman.
These issues include the number of hours per day during which the recount will proceed, whether or not the recount should be live-streamed to ensure maximum transparency and the extent of the recount process.
“The decisions on these issues, and several others, remain outstanding. All of this continues as GECOM seems content to drag this process and by extension, the anguish of the nation, beyond the extent of its patience,” he lamented.
Government-nominated Commissioner Desmond Trotman while acknowledging that these decisions remain outstanding, told this newspaper that he was happy that the Chair had made a decision.
He explained that other decisions are expected once Justice Singh has engaged with the COVID-19 task force and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
“She has indicated that she reached out to the taskforce and the Prime Minister has promised to convene a meeting. I expect we will hear more once she hears more,” Trotman said.
He added that he feels very comfortable that [Singh] is moving to ensure that when the recount takes place it will be taking place in conditions that are safe and will provide results in a timeframe that everyone is comfortable with.
“We are waiting on her. I responded by thanking her for the information and said I look forward for further updates,” he added.
‘New parties disappointed’
Meanwhile, five of the 11 political parties which contested the elections have expressed deep disappointment at the decision by Singh.
In a joint statement A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Change Guyana (CG), the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), The New Movement (TNM) and the United Republican Party (URP) urged that more work stations be considered.
Barring such considerations that parties have asked for a commitment to “no less than 10.”
They, too, lamented the fact that there has been no announcement of the hours of work but have suggested that there should be two eight-hour sessions with one break each for lunch and dinner.
“With the four months constitutional deadline for the convening of Parliament after its dissolution ending on April 30, GECOM must be seen as making every effort to ensure that the Constitution of Guyana is not once again violated,” the parties maintained while urging the Commission and Chair to fix a deadline by which the recount should be completed so as to assure the nation that Guyana will not once again drift into unconstitutionality.
They reminded that the elections results are now six weeks overdue and noted that the international community, including the Commonwealth and the Organization of American States have marked the delay and urged a speedy resolution.
They have also added their voices to those calling for the District Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo to be excluded from the recount in light of his previous results declarations, one of which has been set aside by the High Court.
