The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is expected to meet today to discuss the draft order for the proposed recounting of votes for the 2020 General Elections and opposition- Commissioner Sase Gunraj is hoping for finality on the terms so that the counting can begin soonest.
With two months since voters cast their ballots fast approaching and further complicated by the COVID-19 impact here, Gunraj is hoping that the commissioners would see the need to come to a quick agreement.
“We received the report from the Health Authority today and as you know and have reported I provided a copy of the draft order and we received another draft of the plan from the secretariat. I have received no feedback on my submission. A meeting is planned for 9:30am tomorrow (today),” Gunraj told Stabroek News when contacted.
“It is my hope that we can conclusively discuss these documents and come to finality on all of them and make all the decisions to be in a state of readiness for the commencement of the recount exercise soonest,” he added.
The Order is one of four documents which GECOM Chair, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh had requested as the commission moves to finalize logistical arrangements for the process. The other three documents include a report from the Ministry of Public Health on its findings and recommendations following an inspection of the Arthur Chung Convention Centre (ACCC). The Ministry has to advise on safety in light of concerns about COVID-19 and as each work station at ACCC may have as many as 14 persons.
A logistical plan is also expected from the GECOM Secretariat which should provide timelines and required resources for the operation of a 10-station tabulation centre working for 10 hours daily.
The final communication expected is a response from CARICOM to the provisions which have been finalized by the National COVID-19 Taskforce. On Monday the task force agreed to have the members of the CARICOM high-level team undergo testing for COVID-19 before travelling to Guyana.
The order being examined today was drafted by Gunraj who has said that he would not publicly comment on what was essentially “a working paper that has not had the benefit of the discussion at the level of the Commission.”
Government-nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander, in an invited comment on Tuesday, had noted that the order drafted by Gunraj reflected the proposal put to the Com-mission by the Opposition-nominated Commissioner.
That proposal had called for a simultaneous count of Districts 1 and 4 which would see both completed before another district is started.
The opposition and other stakeholders have repeatedly called for a recount of District 4 noting that it was invalidated declarations in this District which have stalled the declaration of a final result for the 2020 General and Regional Elections.
Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo whose first declaration was vitiated by the High Court has been accused of making a second fraudulent declaration based on a dubious spreadsheet.
The GECOM Chair has been pilloried for poor management of the election process resulting in the country being without a verified result more than seven weeks later. Serious concerns have also been raised that officials within GECOM are working to rig the elections in favour of the incumbent, caretaker President David Granger.
