An extra hour has been cleared for the daily recount of votes from the March 2nd general elections but the CARICOM Secretariat is still to advise the Guyana Elections Commission on when its team is to arrive.
“From the indication given to us by the Chairman, the start date is now formally fixed or hinged on the indication to her by the CARICOM Secretariat,” opposition-nominated GECOM Commissioner, Sase Gunraj yesterday told reporters, following an over two-hour-long meeting of the commissioners.
“She did indicate to us as well, that she hopes to get that information very shortly; perhaps during the course of today. Once we have that, I believe we can move quickly to a start date…,” he added.
Gunraj was later asked by Stabroek News about the size and make-up of the CARICOM team but he said that no information has been provided by CARICOM as yet on if it will be the same persons that were previously here or if the numbers had increased.
“We have not received anything from CARICOM as yet,” GECOM’s Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward told Stabroek News last evening when contacted.
A CARICOM team which had travelled to Guyana for an aborted recount in March had been chaired by the former Attorney-General and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Dominica Francine Baron and included former Minister of Finance of Grenada Anthony Boatswain; Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government of UWI Cynthia Barrow-Giles; Chief Electoral Officer of Barbados Angela Taylor; and Chief Elections Officer of Trinidad and Tobago Fern Narcis-Scope.
It is not clear if this team or a new one will come as their ability to travel is dependent on a negative result from a COVID-19 test. In the interim, the secretariat under the direction of Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, is moving ahead with its own preparations. Ward in an invited comment had on Tuesday said that the secretariat is on track.
Last Friday, after finalizing the operational parameters of the proposed recount, the Commission announced that the Order governing its implementation would be gazetted after a “start date” was determined. This date in turn was dependent on the travel schedule of the High Level team of scrutineers from CARICOM.
On Monday the National COVID-19 Taskforce Force announced that a chartered flight has been approved to transport the team members to Guyana today. It was expected that the Commission would have therefore met on Tuesday for its weekly statutory meeting but the meeting was instead held yesterday.
Work schedule
On the issue of a daily work schedule, Gunraj said that the commission has been given clearance by local health authorities to work past the 6 pm curfew and will work from 8 am to 7 pm daily, for the duration of the count. “You would recall it was from 8am to 6 pm. That [time] has now been extended from 8 am to 7 pm, giving an extra hour of work for the day,” he said.
He expressed disappointment that since last week he had raised the issue of having the document for modalities for the recount be shared with stakeholders and a walkthrough of the process beforehand but it has not been done.
“We are hoping that is done in short order so that when CARICOM says they are ready, that can be there,” he said.
However, he said that the Commission yesterday expressed its readiness to begin the recount and have all measures in place and he believes that this process can begin in one or two days.
“I think we can begin in a day or two, if all of the outstanding issues are …addressed. Those issues are not insurmountable to be concluded before the recount, once we commit ourselves to concluding them,” he said.
Similar views were expressed by government-appointed commissioner Vincent Alexander who said that once CARICOM indicates its arrival, he believes that in a day or two the commission will be fully prepared.
“I think, and this is just my opinion, that we will be able to commence a day or two after their arrival”, he said.
Alexander said that while some persons have sought to criticize the commission’s ability to undertake the recount, its work in execution of previous elections is evidence that it will be ready.
“This is a commission which ran an election in 2015 and everybody said was it well conducted, which ran an election in 2020… and prior to what occurred in Region 4, said it was well conducted. So you are bringing into disrepute a commission that has proven its capacity. So I don’t have the kind of reservations of the commission not doing what it has to do,” he stressed.
“Everybody said this thing was well conducted…not me saying so,” he added.
He dismissed assertions that the Commission will not have the necessary safety gear required under COVID-19 rules saying that not only would the commissioners be briefed if there was a problem but that GECOM has the capacity to procure whatever materials and gear needed.
“I have confidence in the administration … and my confidence is not airy-fairy it is based on past performance. GECOM is an institution, you have institutional approach to things and they have proven their worth over many elections,” he said.
Meanwhile, with an order already waiting on the CARICOM team’s arrival for publishing, the Commission also yesterday rejected requests by the Private Sector Commission and Channel 28 that the recount be live streamed.
