With no major hiccups, ballots from a total of 51 boxes were recounted yesterday on day five of the national recount from the March 2 General and Regional Elections.
That figure brings the total number of boxes recounted to 208 out of 2,339. It is the highest daily tally so far but below what is required to meet the 25-day deadline. Twenty-five boxes were recounted on Wednesday, 40 on Thursday and 44 on Friday (this figure had been previously reported as 43) and 48 on Saturday.
Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Yolanda Ward in her final briefing of the day, told reporters that counting staff were able to complete 11 boxes for Region One, 10 for Region Two, 17 for Region Three and 13 for Region Four. She informed too that a total of 190 Statements of Recount (SoR) for the general elections and 180 for regional elections were tabulated at the conclusion of yesterday’s work day.
“We are close to closing the gap of SoR’s tabulated and by tomorrow (today) we should be able to do so,” Ward said.
The Commission, she noted has been meeting periodically to resolves issues which have arisen.
At yesterday’s meeting, GECOM Commissioners decided that polling staff can now 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.
Ballot boxes are being counted in sequential order but this would be varied in the afternoon to identify boxes with smaller amounts of votes.
“While we will stick to the 5 o’clock mark, and we want to maintain the sequence of the count of the boxes; then we will have to ensure that we select a box that may have a small number of ballots to ensure we finish at that 7pm timeline…The sequential aspect at that particular hour (5pm) will not be applicable,” she explained.
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 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.
GECOM’s opposition-appointed Commissioner Sase Gunraj had acknowledged on Saturday that boxes with a larger number of votes can take more than three hours in some cases. He 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.”
Cellular phones
The commission yesterday also made the decision to allow the use of cellular phones by party agents for photographic purposes.
“The use of cellphones particularly as it relates to the counting exercise will not be allowed for any streaming purposes, but only to take photographs of the ballot box when it arrives at the work station. This is to satisfy persons who would want to ensure that the seals are intact and for their records,” Ward explained.
Government-nominated Commissioner Desmond Trotman while speaking with reporters said the commission is working to ensure all parties are pleased in the recount. He noted that with that in mind the issue was deliberated upon and they made a decision to allow the use of cellphones to photograph ballot boxes and SoRs.
“What we are currently engaged in is not only a recount but to ascertain, by looking at the box, to see what comes out. As the boxes come out, all agents are there to say what is there and what is not. It will help us ascertain how credible the elections were”, Trotman told the reporters.
He went on to say, “We agreed that when the count is completed that all of the agents will sign on to the SoR and when they receive their copies they can take pictures of their copies because they have been taking photographs of when they go to sign the SoR form.”
Additionally, Ward indicated that members of the commission will be meeting with the small parties today at 11. This meeting was birthed out of a request from the small parties.
Ward added arrangements are being made to have a sign language translator present to narrate the tabulation report.
GECOM’s PRO explained too that some ballots that were rejected are not being deemed void once it is established that the intention of the voter is clear.
“In those cases where the elector marked on the symbol or on the side of the box, those are valid ballots. So, if it was rejected at the place of count then we have the opportunity here to correct that particular instance,” Ward explained.
Myers
Meanwhile, PPP executive Anil Nandlall said his party plans to write the commission requesting Myers’ removal from the recounting process as they do not believe that she is working in the best interest of the Commission.
“We plan to write the Chairperson today to lodge a formal complaint about Ms Myers’ conduct. We feel she is not acting in the best interest of GECOM. She is encouraging all these sideshows to continue,” Nandlall told reporters yesterday at noon outside of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, where the recount is taking place.
According to Nandlall, it was Myers who imposed the ban on the use of cellular phones at the recount centre and made the decision to stop ballot boxes being released from the containers at 5 pm on Saturday.
“You will recall that Ms Myers was even the subject of critical commentary and condemnation by the international observers and we spoke to GECOM about that…(Chief Election Officer) Mr (Keith) Lowenfield seems to be behaving himself now Myers has gone awry so we are going to request that (removal) unless she behaves herself,” the party executive asserted. He said that stakeholders will have to continue to fight for the process to be speeded up since from all indications, GECOM will not be able to meet its 25-day deadline.
“We have to continue to fight for getting speed in the process because obviously speed is not a priority for GECOM. It seems, they want this process to run on forever although they have given themselves a 25 days deadline… Every day we have different battles and challenges … but we have to continue to agitate for a change and the speed of the process to increase,” Nandlall stressed.
Ward, when asked if the commission met to review the week’s progress responded in the negative and said the topic is likely to be the subject of a meeting sometime this week.
The gazetted order makes provision for the elections body to review the recounting period during the first week.
The recount commenced last Wednesday.
