19-point ballot box checklist another ploy to extend recount period – Jagdeo

…only tendered ballots need to be examined and recounted

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has stated that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is deliberately moving to commit acts that are prohibited by law as a ploy to further extend the national recount process.

According to GECOM’s Plan for the National Recount, the process will be conducted in accordance with the relevant sections of the Representation of People’s Act Chapter 1:03, in particular Sections 83; 84(6) to (11); 87; 89 (1), and 90.
However, Jagdeo noted during a virtual press conference on Thursday that while this is what his party – the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) — is pushing for, this is not what is being adhered to.
He noted that the 19-point ballot box checklist, a form prepared by the GECOM Secretariat to be completed during the recount, contains the use of documents that are prohibited by the law.
The Opposition Leader, in referring to the checkpoint at No.5, which has provisions for “Ballot Counterfoils” to be counted, pointed out that this is specifically against the law.
Section 89 (2) of the Representation of the People Act states: “The Returning Officer shall not open the sealed packets containing tendered ballot papers, marked copies of the official list of electors, or part thereof or counterfoils of tendered ballot papers.”
According to Jagdeo, “…they don’t wanna do a recount, they want to go to what is specifically prohibited by the law; [that is] counterfoils, and to go to how people voted. They want the list of how, and that is part of the order. Now, that could be deemed illegal in the future, and they’re hoping to create confusion around it.”
The counterfoil is attached to the ballot paper, and is kept by the electoral staff after the ballot has been torn off and handed over to the voter.
The Opposition Leader noted that the Presiding Officer at the Polling Station usually makes a record of these counterfoils. However, he explained that if the PO should mistakenly record an incorrect number, then this could pose a problem during the recount.
“For example, if they get this [counterfoil] and you have 100 people on the list and 75 people voted but the Presiding Officer just sat down and ticked off 71 of them, then this becomes a problem. But this has nothing to do with the number of people who voted and who were observed to have voted in the polling place,” he noted.
According to Jagdeo, the use of the counterfoils during the recount is deliberately designed to disrupt the process.
“[The use of counterfoils is] specifically prohibited by law because its capricious; and it’s not an observed activity, it’s just the Presiding Officer sitting down and ticking [off],” he posited.
The Opposition Leader went on to say that the party have “solid intelligence” that the APNU+AFC Coalition knows that if the recount of the March 2 votes is done cleanly, then it will be revealed that the PPP/C won the elections held nearly two months ago.
“So, by departing from the law now… [they are looking] to create confusion surrounding the recount… But it is transparent, and we know what the plan is, and once we know what the place is, we will be looking out for it,” Jagdeo contended.
He noted that the party had attempted to seek clarity from the GECOM Chair, (ret’d) Justice Claudette Singh, about this and other issues in the Secretariat’s ‘Plan for the National Recount’ but failed.