GECOM Chairwoman now optimistic of timely conclusion of recount

45 days after General Elections

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Wednesday conducted a site inspection of the Arthur Chung Convention Centre, where the Commissioners, GECOM Chairperson and staff were able to scope the structure with a view to determining how they would do the recount of ballots cast in the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

The site inspection was supposed to help in deciding how many persons would be allowed during the recount, as well as how many work stations would be operated.
There has been concern that because of the pace at which GECOM is moving, the four-month deadline for reconvening Parliament would be exceeded.
After the inspection, GECOM Chairwoman, Retired Justice Claudette Singh, expressed the view that the recount could be completed before the deadline, which incidentally is April 30, since Parliament was dissolved on December 30, 2019.
“Of course it would! Once it starts, it would be finished,” the Chairperson, a retired Judge, said. According to her, she does not envision a constitutional crisis if the recount exceeds the four-month deadline.
Importantly, she also sought to dispel any worry that the previous declarations would be used. The retired Justice noted that once a decision is taken to do a recount, the previous declarations are no longer relevant.
“When we would have gone into the recount stage, we will no longer come back to those declarations,” Singh explained.
Meanwhile, GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj, in an interview with the media, was of the view that there is more than enough space for counting stations to be set up both inside and outside the Convention Centre.
“I’m heartened by what I see here. This facility has been around for a while. Seeing the floor plans, having a walk through with my colleague commissioners, we’re actually seeing on a first-hand basis the possibility of holding, fixing counting stations,” he declared.
“As you look around, you can see areas that are very readily available (and) can be utilised within the building. And that is without even considering the extent to what is available outside the building,” he continued.
Gunraj, along with fellow commissioners Bibi Shadick and Robeson Benn, had submitted a recount proposal to counter the one that entailed a 156-day recount, which was previously submitted by Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield.
According to their proposals, which cater for a 10-day recount using 20 work stations, their expectation is that those entitled to be there under Section 86 of the Representation of the People’s Act Cap 1:03 will be catered for. Such persons include party agents and observers.
Their plan specifies that each tabulation workstation shall be comprised of authorised GECOM staff as well as representatives from each of the contesting political parties and accredited observers, with the original Statement of Recount (SOR) being used to tabulate.
“The original SOR is taken by the DRO to the Tabulation Workstation or desk to be manually and electronically tabulated by a team of Authorised GECOM staff, which shall be observed and verified by Party Representatives and accredited observers. Each SOR and the accumulated totals shall be continuously projected for public scrutiny and transparency,” the plan states.
In the plan, the commissioners laid out the resources and support that would be required to complete the exercise. These include checklists for the ballot boxes, Statements of Recount (SOR), tally sheets and ballot box seals.
In addition, they noted that additional equipment would have to be rented to establish additional workstations. When it comes to moving the ballot boxes from GECOM Headquarters at High and Cowan Streets, Kingston to the Arthur Chung Convention Centre, they noted, arrangements must be made for the Guyana Police Force to accompany the boxes as well as staff participating in the recount.