Trade Union urges timely declaration of credible, accurate results

Elections 2020

Describing the current countrywide atmosphere as “uneasy”, a major trade union umbrella body is urging the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to declare results of the 2020 General and Regional Elections in a timely manner.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Federation of Independent Trade Union (FITUG) – which represents thousands of workers across the country – said it “remains very much concerned, at this time, that the results of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections seems to be no closer to finality.”
It has been three days since thousands of Guyanese went to the polls to vote for a party of their choice, but GECOM has not yet released the preliminary results for all of the ten administrative regions.
In fact, the special website it created for the public to follow the updates to the preliminary results has shut down after it was discovered that inaccurate data was being uploaded.
Up to press time, only results from nine regions, in some cases only partial information, have been declared.
The remaining district, Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), faced many setbacks in having the results declared, including tiredness of the GECOM staff, the collapse of the Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, and a controversy over the process used to verify the Statements of Poll.
Commenting on the delay in the verification of the results for Region Four – the most populated district – FITUG said it was “dismayed”.
FITUG referred to the initial delay on Tuesday evening when the exercise was halted after the RO complained of being tired.
“The halt on account of tiredness, on the surface, appears to be a reasonable position. But, similarly, we cannot disregard too that there was apparently a seeming commitment to complete the task at hand without any breaks. Therefore, the suddenness has brought to the fore several concerns,” the trade union said.

Following the pause on the exercise on Tuesday evening, the intention was for the process to be resumed by 09:00h the following day, but, for some reason, this did not occur.
Later in the day, around 11:00h, the RO complained of feeling unwell and was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) – further delaying the verification exercise.
Then, when the activity was eventually resumed, a controversy arose over the use of a spreadsheet, instead of the SoPs, to verify the count.
After much deliberations, the issue was resolved.
According to FITUG, the delay in the declaration of the results has created an “uneasy situation in our country and has significantly slowed the wheels of production”.
The trade union added that “This is not helpful for our nation’s workers who have needs and obligations to meet but are unable to work given the situation.”
FITUG further noted that the delay is “unhelpful as it breeds even more anxiety and tension in the society”.
Moreover, the organisation took a swipe at political parties that are celebrating victories when GECOM has not yet declared official results.
As such, FITUG is urging that “every possible step” be taken to ensure the results are declared in a timely manner, and, that they are credible and accurate.