The opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has voiced its concern to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairperson, retired justice Claudette Singh, over her decision to approaching the National COVID-19 Task Force via Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo with a “request” for advice on working hours during the proposed national recount of ballots cast at the March 2 polls.
“You should be informing that task force of your plan,” the Opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) told Singh in a three page letter dispatched yesterday.
Another party which contested the elections, The Citizenship Initiative (TCI), also called yesterday for an explicit commitment to a clear plan with a set timeframe beginning on Monday April 20.
The concerns centre on an email sent by Singh to the six other member of the Commission explaining plans for the recount. 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 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 made requests of Nagamootoo, including guidance on working hours and the occupancy of the ACCC.
The PPP/C’s letter to Singh, written by attorney Anil Nandlall on behalf of PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo, voiced “profound disappointment” in Singh’s decisions to “cede a large part of your responsibility to some anomalous task force.”
In particular, he said Nagamootoo is part of the “cabal” working to prevent the disclosure of credible results of the elections as he stands to benefit by “squatting” longer in office. “Consequently, he has a vested interest in ensuring the prolongation of this exercise,” he charged.
According to Nandlall, the party had expected “advice on fundamental procedural and substantive issues regarding how the recount is to proceed.”
The e-mail was expected to advise on crucial issues such as the timeframe of the exercise, he said, before adding that international observers, including the CARICOM high level team, are likely to be unwilling to participate in a process that is open-ended in the current public health climate.
He also noted that Singh failed to give guidance on the issue of transparency, which he claimed is “vital to the integrity of the process.”
“We reiterate that telecasting or live streaming of the process in its entirety will enhance the transparency of the process to a great extent,” he said.
Nandlall concluded that Singh’s email rather than providing answers as expected has “raised more questions”.
Further, he referred her to his party’s proposal of a two-week recount and requested that Singh re-examine the proposal and implement as far as possible the recommendations it makes.
Nandlall’s position is similar to that expressed by TCI and five of the other contesting political parties on Friday.
‘Vague’
In a public statement issued yesterday, TCI’s leader Rondha-Ann Lam expressed disappointment and disgust with GECOM generally and the recent decision specifically.
“Justice Singh’s most recent ‘intervention’, one that we had hoped would have provided a definitive way forward, has turned out to be in keeping with the Commission’s behavior as a whole. Whereas what was needed was a clear-cut plan of action with a definitive administrative strategy, a timeframe for action and assignment of personnel, the public was given a vague document that could be so widely interpreted as to allow a process even longer than the ludicrous 156-day plan originally submitted,” Lam lamented.
Lam has called for the an explicit commitment to a clear plan starting no later than Monday 20th April and being completed before or not significantly after the constitutional deadline for a parliament to be in place.
Similarly, A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Change Guyana (CG), the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), The New Movement (TNM) and the United Republic Party (URP) on Friday expressed deep disappointment at Singh’s decision and urged that more stations be considered.
They, too, lamented the fact that there has been no announcement of the hours of work and they have suggested that there should be two eight-hour sessions with one break each for lunch and dinner.
They further urged that the Commission and Chair 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 once the four-month constitutional deadline for the convening of parliament after its dissolution arrives on April 30.
They remind 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 Office to be excluded from the recount in light of his previous declarations, one of which has been set aside by the High Court.
