GECOM grants APNU/AFC request to restrict counting of ballots after 5pm

…decision likely to further delay recount – PPP
… Dr Irfaan Ali requests review of decision

Four days into the recount, and the Parliamentary Opposition is outraged over a decision made by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to restrict the recount time by not opening ballot boxes after 17:00 hrs – two hours earlier than the conclusion time for the exercise.

In an interview with the media on Saturday, GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj revealed that the decision was taken after the intervention of A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) party agent.
“What we’ve seen is that by 5:00pm, when you have two hours left for the recount, you’ve seen objections particularly (coming) from agents of APNU/AFC stationed at the container in some instances, or counting stations, objecting to the issuance of new boxes at or around 5:00pm.
“That has now turned into directives from the Secretariat itself to the staff, not to release boxes after 5:00pm. That suggestion came to the Commission today (at its meeting) and was upheld by the Chairwoman, for boxes not to be issued after 5:00pm. There are boxes that take less than half an hour to complete.”
Commissioner Gunraj explained that prior to GECOM deciding to shave off time from the recount, there were instances of some work stations deciding to halt their count while others continued working.

Dragging out the process

According to Gunraj, the issue is compounded by various counting agents dragging out the process at their respective work stations during the day. He gave an anecdotal report that party agents even discuss the need to slow down the pace at work stations that are deemed to be working too fast.
“I’ve been walking around this facility almost continuously all day, and it’s almost like a rotation. I go from (work station) 1 to (work station) 10, and I’m seeing various paces. Everyone is working hard, but I’d like to see efficiency in the process. I’m seeing some procedures that are clearly not necessary,” he declared.
“In polling stations on election day, everyone is given a folio. Those folios are for information purposes, merely to help through the process. I’ve seen agents painstakingly counting folios. That’s a waste of time. Persons are either trying to stick slavishly, or even expand the tenets of the order. Things like that slow down the process,” he declared.

Further delay
Meanwhile, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), in a statement on Saturday, were highly critical of the decision not to issue ballot boxes for counting after 5:00 pm, noting it likely to further delay the recount.
According to them, GECOM’s decision violates the very order it had gazetted. “This is another violation of the Order which provides for work to conclude at 7pm. The refusal to release boxes at 5pm is resulting in a termination of work long before 7pm. GECOM is already likely to violate its decision to complete the process in twenty-five (25) days.
“Therefore, in terms of time, if GECOM wishes to depart from its own timeframe, it should be to extend work beyond 7pm, not to terminate the work prematurely”, the PPP have said.
The party also urged that GECOM Chair, retired Justice Claudette Singh, who has largely been avoiding the press since the recount started, make herself available to the media in order to explain the rationale behind the Commission’s decision.

Observation Reports
PPP also drew reference to a decision taken by GECOM to read out the Observation Reports it has been compiling along with the Statements of Recount. Not only would the reports be verbally read out, GECOM has said, but sign language interpreters would be used for good measure.
GECOM Commissioner Vincent Alexander, in justification of this decision, said on Saturday that it was a decision made in the best interest of the disabled, who may be tuning in to the live streamed tabulation.
According to the PPP, however, this is another thinly veiled attempt by APNU/AFC to drag out the process; as, without evidence, the coalition party is making wild accusations that are being documented in those reports.
“The Order provides only for the tabulation of the SoRs to be live-streamed, and not the Observation Report; so, the live-streaming of this report is in violation of the process. This Observation Report is already given to the political parties, and they can make whatever use they wish of it. Valuable time will also be used to read out this report, (time) which can be spent on the actual counting exercise,” the PPP said.
“In any event, this Observation Report is a collection of all the ridiculous, unsubstantiated, irrelevant issues which APNU+AFC agents are making as part of their design to undermine the electoral process. For example, they are alleging that dead and migrated persons voted, without producing a scintilla of evidence to support these bizarre allegations.”
PPP leaders, headed by Presidential Candidate Dr Irfaan Ali, met with the GECOM Chairperson and requested a review of that decision. Ali, on Saturday, lamented the fact that the pace at which the exercise is being conducted is very slow. He noted that, considering the 25 days scheduled, which was outlined in the gazetted order, the counting agents should be doing about 94 boxes per day. However, the pace of the count is moving at about 40 boxes per day. He added that a further analysis has shown that over four hours is deducted from the actual counting time when one considers all the administrative issues that are taking place simultaneously.
“The Commission will need to revisit this issue…the country has been on pause and standstill; people’s lives have been on pause and standstill, and we need this exercise to be completed,” Ali told the media on Saturday.
Meanwhile as at Saturday, a total of 153 ballot boxes had been recounted, 48 of them on Saturday. According to GECOM Public Relations Officer Yolanda Warde, 14 boxes were counted from Region 1, 11 from Region Two, 12 from Region Three, and 11 from Region Four.