The votes from another 48 ballot boxes were tallied yesterday when the national recount entered its fourth day, bringing the grand total for the process to 156 of the 2,339 boxes generated from the March 2 general and regional polls.
According to Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) spokesperson Yolanda Ward, there were 14 boxes completed for Region One, 11 for Region Two, 12 for Region Three, and 11 for Region Four.
She added that the continuous tabulation which the Commission has decided will be conducted from 4 pm to 6 pm each day has so far been able to compile the results of 129 Statements of Recounts (SoRs) from the general elections and 115 from the regional polling.
“We continue to move along,” Ward said of the process, before adding that the Commission has been meeting periodically to resolves issues which have arisen.
One such issue is the early stop by a number of workstations as a result of APNU+AFC coalition counting agents refusing to open any ballot box past 5 pm.
According to the opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic, the refusal to release boxes at 5pm is resulting in a termination of work long before the 7pm stoppage provided for in the Order for the recount.
“GECOM is already likely to violate its decision to complete the pro-cess in 25 days. Therefore in terms of time, if GECOM wishes to depart from its own timeframe it should be to extend work beyond 7pm not to terminate the work prematurely,” the PPP/C argued in a statement released last evening.
Acknowledging that boxes with a larger number of votes can take more than three hours in some cases, opposition-nominated Commissioner Sase Gunraj said the night watchman should be a small box, which is likely to be completed in significantly less time.
He noted that it was his suggestion that the boxes be counted sequentially but stressed that in the interest of time the sequence can be discarded.
Government-nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander also spoke to issue and explained that his colleagues “were brought around to the understanding that if you want to work beyond 5.30 you have to give leverage to the stations to identify small boxes that will allow them to work beyond 5.30 and conclude by 7 pm.”
‘Disingenuous’
The major issue of contention, however, appears to be the inclusion of an observation report in the tabulation process.
According to the Order, the observation report shall be a record of “any observation not catered for in the [ballot box] checklist provided.”
“The observations report shall be signed by the supervisor of the workstation and representatives of each contesting party present. A copy of the completed Ballot Box Check-list and the Observations Report shall be given to party representatives,” it notes.
There is no indication that the report is to be publicly displayed or broadcasted as part of the tabulation but the Commission, at the request of the incumbent APNU+AFC, has allowed for this broadcast. A decision was also taken to have this report read and communicated via sign language so that the differently-abled population can treat with the content.
The PPP/C has roundly criticised these decisions, arguing that they not only violate the Gazetted Order but contributes to delaying the process further.
“The Order provides only for the tabulation of the SoRs to be live-streamed and not the Observation Report, so the live-streaming of this report is in violation of the process. This Observation Report is already given to the political parties and they can make whatever use they wish of it. Valuable time will also be used to read out this report which can be spent on the actual counting exercise,” it argues.
According to the party, the report itself is significantly flawed as it is a collection of all the “ridiculous, unsubstantiated, irrelevant” issues which APNU+AFC agents are raising as part of their design to undermine the electoral process.
“They are alleging that dead and migrated persons voted without producing a scintilla of evidence to support these bizarre allegations. This is simply a line of propaganda that APNU+AFC wants to use to inundate the public domain in order to distract attention from the numbers that the process is producing,” the PPP/C further contends.
Gunraj raised similar arguments, while noting that the recount should be viewed as an appellate case where no new evidence can be introduced, especially evidence which has not or cannot be scrutinised.
“To now come and to have the ipse dixit (unproven statement) allegation of a representative included in that observation report, I believe is a disingenuous attempt to introduce new evidence or to introduce new propaganda in a process and at a point where it ought not to be,” Gunraj stressed.
Eagle eyes
Speaking on behalf of the incumbent, former minister Joseph Harmon maintained that the publication of the report and its contents are essential for the credibility of the process.
“There are questions with respect to whether people who are dead voted and people who are not around voted as well…. Is this a true reflection of the will of the Guyanese people…this recount will decide that matter,” he told reporters.
According to Harmon, the recount process has been named “Operation: Eagle Eye” by the coalition as all its agents here have gone through an extensive period of training, so they know what to look for.
“It is that ‘eagle eye’ they are bringing to this process,” he stressed. Asked whether the party agents who operated on polling day did not have “eagle eyes,” Harmon said some persons were not as efficient as they should have been. “This recount is taking place in one location, so they can lookout. Some things might have slipped through on March 2, but we should be able to catch those things here,” he maintained.
