GECOM commissioners at a meeting this afternoon decided to identify ballot boxes with smaller numbers of votes to be recounted later in the afternoon to maximise the time available at the 10 counting stations.
This was disclosed by GECOM Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward.
The ruling came after opposition parties had complained that a decision had been taken by Deputy Chief Election Officer Roxanne Myers that no ballot box would be extracted from containers for counting after 5 pm. This is despite the fact that counting is supposed to take place between 8 am and 7 pm. Myers had apparently taken the decision as an APNU+AFC party agent had complained that boxes with large numbers of votes would take the count beyond 7 pm and she needed to travel a significant distance to get home.
Ballot boxes are being counted in sequential order but this would be varied in the afternoon to identify boxes with smaller amounts of votes.
Acknowledging that boxes with a larger number of votes can take more than three hours in some cases, opposition-nominated GECOM 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 sequential approach can be suspended in the afternoon.
Government-nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander also spoke to the 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.”