In an address to the nation on Monday President David Granger was formal in demeanour and unctuous of tone as he welcomed the announcement of a date for the start of the recount, and called on Guyanese to be patient. Considering that all the delays in the announcement of the true result of this country’s March 2 elections can be laid at the door of his party which colluded with renegade members of Gecom to try and fix the outcome, he should be congratulating people on their forbearance and endurance, not asking them to be patient.
But there he was as usual reciting his standard mantras about having always complied with the rulings of the courts, and having “never interfered, intervened or intruded in the work of the Elections Commission.” He did not omit his usual insistence either that he had always upheld the Constitution, and as for the prolongation of electoral process, that had been occasioned “by a delay owing to legal challenges in the Supreme Court of Judicature and the Court of Appeal.” He omitted to mention that one of these was brought by a candidate of his own party in an attempt to stop the first recount. Not only did he not intervene to prevent her from bringing the action in the first instance, but he also failed to insist that she withdraw it after it had been filed.
This, coupled with the fact that he did not rein in the members of his own party who were clearly bent on pursuing a fraudulent path, has not conveyed to the electorate the appearance of a commitment to an unsullied recount process. And now there is the matter of the Carter Center observers to add to the complement. Gecom had earlier authorised accredited international observers to be present at the recount, so the decision to refuse permission for an observer or observers to be flown in from Miami comes well within the de facto President’s remit.
The Carter Center was reported to have indicated that the observers would abide by Covid-19 requirements in relation to testing and quarantining, but still there has been no response from the Guyanese authorities. The President recently superimposed a number of ex-military personnel on the Covid-19 Task Force management team, and the new administration is headed by none other than Mr Joseph Harmon, Mr Granger’s right-hand man. Why has the head of state, therefore, not instructed Mr Harmon to clear the path to allow the Carter Center to send their observers?
The EU and the OAS have sent observers to the recount, but they did not require any permission to be issued for them to enter the country, because they were drawn from personnel already based here. Could it be that this was not expected, and that if they too had had to be flown in from outside, they would also have encountered problems? Even if that is not the case, the de facto government still owes the nation an explanation about why the Carter Center has been singled out for exclusion, despite Gecom’s decision and despite the fact that President Granger claims ad nauseam that he does not interfere with the work of the Elections Commission.
But the refusal to allow Carter Center observers into the country is only one of the issues swirling around the recount, most of which do not directly relate to the President per se. True to form, Gecom Chair Claudette Singh has wielded her casting vote like a sledgehammer, on this occasion striking out live-streaming of the entire process on what experienced lawyers say are spurious legal grounds. The counting process is also being audio streamed though thus far it is of little use. What will be live-streamed is the tabulation exercise. As all the parties which contested the election (save APNU+AFC) have pointed out, in company with various organisations and persons of note in the society, live-streaming is the best way to guarantee transparency, and to reassure all voters and parties that the process is above board. It is not difficult to divine why the coalition-appointed commissioners would be opposed to this, but why should the Chair of Gecom herself be in such a hurry to allow a context where suspicions about integrity could flourish?
Then there is a matter raised by the PPP, which objected to the Statements of Recount being in the sole possession of Chief Election Office Keith Lowenfield for the period when he will be making copies. The CEO, of course, is mistrusted by all the parties which contested the poll, and to date has refused to make the copies of the SoPs in his possession available to Gecom or the public. The PPP wants copies of the SoRs distributed before Mr Lowenfield takes over. One can only wonder why the opposition appointed commissioners did not raise this at the last meeting of Gecom, since it is unlikely that anything will be done about it now, however justified their concerns might be.
Now that the process has actually got underway, Commissioner Robeson Benn had other sources of unease which he expressed in a letter to this newspaper yesterday. His main concern related to the use of the Covid-19 situation to keep those involved removed from “satisfactory direct observation and verification of the recount process…” He described how the distance from the screen to the first row of seats for stakeholders and observers was 15 feet, and the last row of seating from the table would be at least 40 feet. The screen did not really help, he wrote, because the fixed camera capture area was relatively small, and “[o]ne would have to continuously alter views between the screen and the table to keep track of disparate actions by the handlers at the distances on offer to avoid any issue of claims of switching or insertions.”
If that were not enough, he said that Gecom was using the six-foot social distancing requirement for stakeholders and observers who will wear N95 masks, while its own staff will work within three feet of each other “wearing masks which [are] consistent with the World Health Organization guidelines for a low-risk environment.” He asked how one justifies the discrepancy between the two, and argued there needed to be an urgent review of the operational setting and the methodology in place.
On the first day of the recount, Gecom managed to dispense with 25 ballot boxes − not a very encouraging total. In the next few days we will discover whether the 25-day timeframe for completion of the process is a feasible estimate, or whether in the current conditions it is likely to drag on unconscionably. Furthermore we will find out whether the present arrangements are conducive to transparency and the integrity of the exercise, and will guarantee us an honest result. The question is, if adjustments have to be made to ensure such integrity, will the Gecom Chair rise to the occasion?
President Granger has said he will accept the declaration of the results by the Elections Commission, “which will allow for a democratically elected government to be sworn-in to office.” A democratically elected government is precisely what the public has been waiting interminably for, and in the end it lies in Justice Singh’s hands as to whether they get it.
