After 11 days of recounting, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has completed 546 of 2,339 ballot boxes but it is still awaiting word from the National COVID-19 Task Force on increasing the number of work stations to meet its deadline.
The commission recounted 49 boxes yesterday, which included 11 boxes from Region Two, 14 from Region Three, 13 from Region Four and 11 from Region Five.
GECOM had been expected to make a decision last Friday on adding six more work stations to the 10 currently operating. The idea of adding to the 10 operating stations comes after the recounting process has still not achieved the pace needed for the completion of the count in the 25 days recommended by the gazetted order.
According to opposition-nominated Commiss-ioner Sase Gunraj, 48-hours after a health team from the Task Force visited the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, there was still no response. He went on to say that 24-hours should have been enough time for response to be decided upon. “I thought that 24 hours was more than a reasonable time in keeping with my own views. We should establish the work station with or without [the decision],” he told reporters in front of the Conference Centre, while adding that he hoped the delayed response was not being by external authorities.
Meanwhile, the de facto Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence later denied that the Task Force has been in any way politicized. She added that ministers are members of the Task Force because “they have certain responsibilities which falls within their purview.” She then said that members of the PPP/C were asked to be a part of the task force but the members who were asked refused.
According to Lawrence, her utmost concern with the recounting is the safety for each person in the process. “When we have ten persons dead and over 100 persons tested positive, including children and whole families…I would prefer to be at home than being out here because that is how dangerous COVID-19 is. All of us have to be involved [in staying safe],” she said.
She also noted that GECOM asked the Task Force to acquire professional advice from the start of the recount, in terms of space and the number of persons who can gather in said space at one time but a report has not yet been presented.
