Start and duration of recount still undecided

Controversial Returning Officer for Region Four, Clairmont Mingo, one of the key Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Officers alleged to be part of an attempt to rig the 2020 General and Regional Elections, has not been ruled out of the proposed recount by the electoral body.

This was intimated to media operatives on Thursday last when the Commission wrapped up its meeting for the day, to reconvene today since it is yet to finalise the work programme or complete a draft order.

Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) Commissioner to the electoral body, Sase Gunraj, told media operatives that the

Chairperson, retired Justice Claudette Singh, did not appear inclined to removing definitely Mingo and others from the process.
Speaking with reporters on the personnel to be involved in the recount process, Gunraj disclosed that the issue about officers against whom allegations were levelled was brought up and specifically discussed at the meeting.

He said, however, that “The chairman (retired Justice Claudette Singh) has said that she is of the opinion that some of the officers are statutory officers, and that she is not inclined to remove those persons at this time.”

The PPP Commissioner told media operatives, “I disagree with that position I must say —

and I remain adamant — that certain persons ought not to participate in this process, particularly the Returning Officer Mingo, who has brought us to this position.”
Government aligned Commissioner Vincent Alexander, who also spoke to the matter of the discussions surrounding the use of GECOM personnel in the recount, specifically the Region Four RO, said, “No role has been defined for Mr Mingo.”
Corroborating Gunraj’s position that the matter had been brought up for discussion, Alexander suggested that one Commissioner “reeled out a number of names of persons who he saying should not be involved in the exercise”.
According to Alexander, however, the disposition of some of the commissioners is that there are no specific allegations against the officials, and he added, “If there is no specific allegation, then there is no basis for us to say they should not be involved in the exercise.”
Mingo is being alleged to have declared fraudulently tabulated results for Region Four using a suspect spreadsheet and not the official statements of poll to declare a victory for the coalition A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC).
The matter was dragged out in the courts, which subsequently found that the results were unlawful, and subsequent decision had been taken by the Commission for the recount.
Both Alexander and Gunraj related to media operatives, however, that despite meeting all day, the Commission was still to finalise the work plan, including determining the duration of time that would be allocated for the recount process by the Commission.
Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield had submitted a plan to the Commission that would see the recount lasting more than five months, while the PPP’s Commissioner demonstrated in a counter proposal that the activity could be completed in as little as ten days.
Alexander told media operatives that while the Commission has undoubtedly settled on the number of workstations to be used for the recount process in addition to the venue, the time allocation for the recount of each of the 2,339 ballot boxes is yet to be determined.
He said there is a proposal on the table for the Commission to gauge the first day of the recount to determine realistically how long it would take to count each box, and this would set the precedent in determining an approximation for the entire process.
Gunraj, in lamenting the situation, said the members of the Commission would be resuming its meeting today to finalise the work plan for the activity and the draft order, at which time he would be pushing to have the commission set a fixed duration.
According to Gunraj, “I believe that if we set a duration for the process and we take steps to fit within that duration, we can have some process; but if we leave it open-ended, it will be just as that, open-ended and cause issues and cause opportunity to have this process delayed.”
He suggested that the new parameters that have been identified within which the Commission would have to do the recount still puts the duration at beyond a month, which is still unacceptable.
“We need to set a definitive period during which this process will be concluded, and take all the necessary steps to conclude it in that time,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Organisation of American States’ (OAS) election observer mission on April 15 publicly called for “the officials to be engaged in the recount are selected based on their impartiality and those who have displayed partisan behaviour are excluded.”