…Caricom yet to respond to observe recount invitation
There has been no decision on a start date for the election recount or its logistics, but the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is expected to meet again at 09:30h today in order to continue its discussions.
GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj
This was confirmed by GECOM Public Relations Officer (PRO) Yolanda Ward, during an interview with Guyana Times. In response to queries, she also confirmed that the Caribbean Community (Caricom) has yet to respond to an invitation from GECOM to send a team to supervise the recount.
Meanwhile, it is understood that Commissioners are in possession of a draft recount order that is still under work and it will likely be discussed today.
In an interview with this publication, GECOM Commissioner Sase
GECOM Chair, Retired Justice Claudette Singh
Gunraj explained that after reviewing the draft order, he made some recommendations for inclusion in the order.
While tightlipped on what the draft order contains, Gunraj explained that the recommendati
ons he made included the live streaming of the recount process in the interest of transparency.
Gunraj explained that he also recommended the circulation of the order details for the recount to the relevant personnel and the exclusion of certain persons who have been deemed to have tainted the process when they were previously involved.
It has already been over a month of controversy, and a credible winner for the 2020 General and Regional Elections is yet to be declared. After two declarations from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, which lacked transparency, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo and caretaker President David Granger had agreed to have Caricom oversee the recount.
The independent high-level team that came was chaired by former Dominica Attorney General and Foreign Affairs Minister Francine Baron, and comprised former Grenada Finance Minister Anthony Boatswain; Senior UWI Lecturer in the Department of Government, Cynthia Barrow-Giles; Barbados Chief Electoral Officer Angela Taylor; and Trinidad and Tobago Chief Elections Officer Fern Narcis-Scope.
That agreement was derailed when A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) candidate Ulita Moore moved to the courts and secured an injunction against the exercise.
That injunction was discharged last month by the Full Court, and later the Full Court’s decision was upheld by the Appeals Court. By then, however, the Caricom high-level team had already departed, forcing GECOM to reinvite them.
More controversy would later erupt; however, after caretaker Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo instructed GECOM, a constitutional body, that it could not extend its recount into curfew hours.
These instructions were issued after the GECOM Chair wrote to him, requesting guidance on the working hours for the recount team. Inexplicably, Nagamootoo also informed GECOM that observers granted special permission to fly in to oversee the recount must quarantine for 14 days after arriving, again delaying the exercise.
After an outcry from the People’s Progressive Party (and reportedly diplomatic intervention), however, these stipulations were relaxed. A decision was made for the 18:00h to 06:00h curfew to be relaxed and for foreigners coming here to observe the process to be pre-tested in their own countries as against being quarantined for 14 days upon their arrival here.
These changes were also made following the intervention of caretaker President David Granger. GECOM Chair, Retired Justice Claudette Singh has said that the recount will be done based on a 10-hour shift from 08:00h to 18:00h.
