GECOM will cooperate fully – Chairperson on recount

Caricom high-level supervision of recount

…after ROs reject several recount requests\

Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh, has assured that she will facilitate the recounting of the ballots in all 10 electoral districts in Guyana.

This commitment comes on the heels of the intervention of Caribbean Community (Caricom) Chairperson, Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who assembled an independent high-level regional team to supervise the recounting process – which was requested by incumbent President David Granger and agreed to by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, who is also the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).

In a statement on Saturday, the GECOM Chair recommitted to her undertaking given to Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George on Friday that she would “facilitate the recounting of the ballots” for Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).

“My commitment has now been bolstered, by a request made by His

Excellency President David Granger, and to which the Leader of the Opposition Mr Bharrat Jagdeo has approved, to have the Chairperson of Caricom field an independent high-level team to supervise the recount of the ballots for District One to District Ten. I welcome this initiative and would assure everyone that GECOM will cooperate fully with the process,” Justice Singh posited.

Supersede
This commitment by the GECOM Chair has superseded the denial of recount requests by several Returning Officers (ROs).

Requests for a recount of the Region Four results, which has been embroiled in controversy, by the PPP/C and other parties that contested the March 2 General and Regional Elections have been rejected by embattled RO, Clairmont Mingo.

In a statement on Saturday from Public

Relations Officer of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Yolanda Ward, it was noted that requests for recounts in Region Four were denied.
“RO denied requests for recount since none of the parties adhered to the statutory timeline to apply for the appointment of Counting Agents. In this regard, no Counting Agent was duly appointed for any parties and only a Counting Agent can request a recount,” the release from GECOM noted.
However, legal counsel for PPP/C, Attorney-at-Law Anil Nandlall contended that his party had notified the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, of the appointment of its Counting Agent within the prescribed time. At that time, he explained that the RO for Region Four did not have an office as yet but as soon as this location was known, the party wrote him as well.
In fact, Nandlall pointed out that the RO had even met with PPP/C appointed Counting Agent, Charles Ramson Jr, on March 1, at his office in the Ashmins Building, High and Hadfield Streets, Georgetown, and briefed him on his role and responsibilities. Additionally, Mingo spoke with Ramson Jr several times during polling day.
“When the verification exercise commenced at Ashmins Building on March 3, 2020, this very Returning Officer permitted our Counting Agent to lead the PPP/C’s delegation in that exercise. To now say that he is not recognising that Counting Agent is so deceptive that it renders him unfit to hold any public office, moreover, to continue to function as the RO for Region Four,” Nandlall noted.
Apart from the PPP/C, seven other parties made recount requests. These include A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Change Guyana (CG), Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), Organisation for the Victory of the People (OVP), People’s Republic Party (PRP), The Citizenship Initiative (TCI) and The New Movement (TNM).
According to Nandlall, he spoke with the representatives of these political parties that are affected, and they indicated similar experiences with this RO.
To this end, he contended that the statement from GECOM is the latest manifestation in a long series of the bias and political toxicity which afflict the Returning Officer for Region Four. It is no wonder that public confidence in the election machinery is at its lowest ebb.
Ramson successfully filed PPP/C’s recount request on Saturday morning after being prevented from serving their notice on Friday night, after Mingo made his declaration of the region’s results.
The request was filed at the Office of the Returning Officer and according to Ramson, he submitted the request to a Deputy Returning Officer (DRO).
“They signed for it and we have a copy of the receipt,” he told reporters afterwards.
The other parties also followed suit and filed their recount requests before the 12-noon deadline outlined in the law.
In what has been described as an illegal move, the embattled RO Mingo went ahead and declared the results for Region Four even after the tabulation was marred with controversy and allegations of fraud.
Political party representatives and other stakeholders argue that the Statements of Poll (SoPs) used by GECOM during Friday’s tabulation process were clearly tampered with.
In fact, the parties were ready with their notices for recounts but were prevented from serving the RO as he was swarmed by Police officers and whisked away immediately after the declaration.
Meanwhile, the RO in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) also denied a recount request by the APNU/AFC coalition, on the grounds that the duly appointed candidate was not present at the time of the count. It was noted that the person who requested the recount is not the statutory person to do so.
Additionally, the coalition was also denied its recount request in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), The party’s recount requests for Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) was withdrawn while Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) has been suspended.