PPP/C demands definitive ‘end date’ for elections recount

…agrees to 1-week extension to 25-day deadline
…as GECOM again turns to APNU/AFC task force for more counting stations

Days after the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) was advised by the National Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Taskforce (NCTF) that it could establish no more than two additional counting stations at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre, the electoral body on Wednesday again wrote the APNU/AFC- appointed body, seeking permission and guidance for the setting up of more workstations.
This, despite there being no physical changes to the venue from the time of the visit of health officials from the task force, when GECOM had requested to set up an additional six counting stations to supplement the 10 that the National Recount Exercise began with on May 6.

GECOM Public Relations Officer (PRO) Yolanda Ward confirmed the request of the taskforce by the Commission and said the establishment of more working stations was among the discussions being mulled by the Commission in order to ensure that the exercise is accelerated.

Permission or guidance
Speaking to the report that was provided by the Taskforce, Ward indicated to media operatives, “Being cognizant that it is of national importance that this recount exercise concludes as quickly as possible, it is the intention of the Chairperson to write to the national taskforce again, to seek their reconsideration for an additional two workstations.”
Asked to clarify whether the request was for permission or guidance, taking into account the fact that the Chairperson had initially decided to go ahead and set up two additional workstations before receiving the imprimatur of the Taskforce, she said it was twofold.
According to Ward, “We seek permission as well as for an assessment to be done to determine the risk involved in the establishment of such.”
She conceded that the Commission had identified at least two additional proposed locations to the taskforce last week, but those have been turned down.
Defending the Commission’s resort to the taskforce as against invoking its independence, as is being touted by many, Ward told reporters, “We also need to be cognizant that we cannot, while constitutionally the Commission operates in an autonomous way, we cannot operate in isolation, and not being cognization of other factors that could affect our operations. We have to be conscious that we are dealing with a health situation.”
The letter from the Commission’s Chairperson, retired Justice Claudette Singh, to NCTF was dispatched on the same day the Commissioners and Chairperson met with Opposition Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), when the party called on GECOM to come up with a definitive end-date for the exercise.

1-week extension
The meeting was held to primarily address the matter of the slothfulness of the recount activity, and for the Electoral Commission, since it is unlikely that the 25-day deadline would be met.
The PPPP/C Presidential Candidate Dr Irfaan Ali met with reporters following his meeting with the Commission, and was unmoving in his adumbration, “All of Guyana would like to know definitively what is the end date we’re looking at.”
Signalling that his party was not averse to a one week extension to the 25-day deadline, he noted that the Commission was called on by the PPP/C to ensure that entreaties are made to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) delegation of observers in order to ensure that they can stay on for the completion of the exercise.
He reminded that the team had initially committed to a 25-day deadline.
Dr Ali told the media that during the meeting, his party representatives — including party General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo — submitted a number of recommendations to the Commission. These, he said, include the introduction of a quota system for each of the 12 counting stations currently undertaking the exercise, taking into account Justice Singh’s stated desire to have at least 100 boxes completed in a given day.
Ali used the occasion to point out that the PPP/C’s recommendations to the Commission were geared at accelerating the process, while not sacrificing transparency for expediency.

Slothful implementation of decisions
Lamenting aspects of the National Recount exercise that have been identified as among the culprits consuming time, the PPP/C Presidential Candidate told reporters encamped in the makeshift media centre outside of the Arthur Chung Convention Centre (ACCC) that the secretariat staff were in this case found wanting.
He qualified his position by explaining that decisions that are taken by the Commission are not being filtered efficiently to the recount staff. This situation, he said, has led to party agents rehashing issues during the recount exercise that would have already been addressed by the Commission.
He cited as example that this obtained in at least one occasion, which led to a three-quarter-hour delay in the process.
As such, it was submitted to the Commission to have the decisions taken being transmitted by the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), in order to minimise miscommunication in the implementation of the Commission’s decisions, which had led to numerous delays.
Lamenting the absence of the implementation of the Commission’s decisions on dealing with recurrent objections being made, Ali reminded, “We can’t have the country being unsettled like this for such a long period…it is not good for business, it is not good for investors,” and suggesting the same fate nationally.
Reflecting on the two additional stations that were set up the day before, the PPP/C Presidential Candidate said that even with the additional resources, the recount exercise was still not addressing 100 boxes daily at a minimum, which would inherently demand additional time if more stations are not added.
He was also critical of the secretariat’s management of the recount process in terms of the logistics.
Qualifying his criticism, the Presidential Candidate observed that more than 40 per cent of the ballot boxes that remain to be recounted are in fact boxes from Region Four, and he juxtaposed the position with the fact that less than quarter of all the stations in operation are allocated to that region.
He was adamant that this is a situation that needs readjustment by the secretariat.