Drastic 15% drop in ballot boxes counted on Sunday

…PPP sounds alarm at turtle’s pace

On Thursday, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) recounted 88 ballot boxes; however, by Sunday, that number had dropped dramatically to 75, to a counting pace the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has labelled as “pathetic”.
In an interview with the media outside the recount venue – Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCCC) – on Sunday, PPP Executive and former Attorney General Anil Nandlall was critical of the slow pace of the recount and the fact that GECOM has neither implemented new counting stations nor approved any of the PPP recommendations to speed up the process.

“Today (Sunday) has been a slow day, unfortunately. By the end of today, we would not have completed 80 boxes. It falls short to about 77 and that’s very disappointing. The promised additional stations have not been established. As you are aware, we were promised that these workstations would have been established several days now.
“We have been agitating for their establishment. But we seem to be talking to a brick wall. We were promised that these stations would be open. They have not been established. And rather than the speed increasing, we are observing that the speed is now decreasing. In fact, in Region Four, the pace is pathetic,” he said.

In fact, it turns out that GECOM counted less than 77 boxes on Sunday. According to information released by GECOM Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward, only 75 boxes were counted. Of these boxes, 15 were from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); 19 from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica); 14 from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice); 20 from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and seven from Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).
On Tuesday, the addition of two workstations to the 10 being initially used for the recount saw the pace increasing to 76 ballot boxes for that day. The pace then dropped to 71 on Wednesday, but on Thursday GECOM counted 88 boxes.
After Thursday, things started going downhill, as GECOM counted 87 boxes on Friday, 85 boxes on Saturday, and 75 boxes on Sunday. This brings the total number of ballot boxes counted so far to 1124.
However, 1215 boxes remain to be counted, with just six days remaining in the 25-day exercise. According to Nandlall, the most logical conclusion one can draw is that feet are being deliberately dragged.
“We have made many proposals to GECOM. In addition to the establishment of new stations, we suggested that they put the time to 6:00pm – the cut-off time for ballot boxes to be extracted from the containers. That is not being implemented. One minute after 05:30pm, if a box is finished, that’s the end of the work for that particular station,” Nandlall said on Sunday.
“We even suggested that they pay a higher remuneration for extra hours of work put in. That has also been ignored. So, we are beginning to form the unfortunate view that there is some deliberate ploy to bring greater sloth to the process, rather than accelerate the process,” he added.
If the slow pace of the recount continues, there could also be implications for the three-member Caribbean Community (Caricom) team currently observing the recount. Nandlall pointed out that they could not stay in Guyana indefinitely.
According to Nandlall, the PPP will continue to make efforts to have the recount sped up. He noted that it intended to approach GECOM Chair, Retired Justice Claudette Singh today in order to hold her to her promise of establishing more stations.
“And we will renew our requests for an extension of the hours, from 05:30 to 06:00, when the ballot box containers should be closed. And we shall also renew our suggestion that greater emoluments be paid, if possible, to enhance the speed of the process. At the current pace, the process will certainly not meet the 25-day deadline.
“And you know, the Caricom team has expressed some concern about the conclusion of the exercise and how long it would take. Because they cannot stay here indefinitely. We thought the Chairperson and GECOM demonstrated a willingness to move forward, by the promise to establish new stations. Now, after several days, we see a non-implementation of that promise and that’s quite disappointing.”