2020 Elections…PSC “disappointed and extremely concerned” with delays by Returning Officers

Mar 04, 2020 News

The delay in the declarations of election results of the Returning Officers (ROs) for their respective districts is disappointing and of extreme concern.
This was expressed by the Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Captain Gerry Gouveia, during a press conference yesterday.
Captain Gouveia related that on Monday when the PSC visited the outskirts of Georgetown to observe the election operations, he was “exceptionally impressed” by the proceedings. He emphasized that operations were professional, smooth and efficient, and he exited the polls with a great sense of confidence in the declaration of results.
However 24 hours after the polls had closed, nothing was announced, resulting in the PSC being left in a state of concern.
Gouveia explained that, “This delay is of extreme concern to us; that returning officers have not been able to publicly make any declarations at this time. We expected to have the information – at least the declarations five bigger Regions – Three, Four, Five, Six and Ten – at 12:00 to 13:00 hrs, the latest.

Chairman of the PSC, Gerry Gouveia (centre) with PSC representatives

And then we expected that the declarations of outlying regions such as One, Two, Seven, Eight and Nine to have started sometime this morning (yesterday) and by now we would have expected the returning officers to have been in a position to also publicly announce those results, thereby giving GECOM the opportunity to add ten numbers… to deliver election results to the nation.”
When asked whether he spoke to the GECOM to raise his concerns, Gouveia explained that he met with the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, yesterday, to get assurances that the CEO was not prohibiting the ROs from making declarations. Lowenfield gave his assurance that this was not the case.
According to the Chairman, the ROs do not require the approval of the CEO before they actually make their declarations. He noted that in the last legal advice given to him it stated that the law authorizes the ROs to make the public declarations soonest after the tabulation process is over.
“Lowenfield told me that he was not interfering with the process; that the Returning Officers were allowed to make their declarations, but what concerned us though, is even at this time, we have not been aware of any official declaration of the results at the regional level,” he stated.
Furthermore, Gouveia was keen to note that the delay in election results has created fear and paranoia in the local business community, and referenced the shutdown of businesses in the entire country yesterday. He went on to state that the “apprehension” is not in the favour of the business community or the country’s economy.
“Across the city and a lot of parts of the country, there’s an apprehension by business owners, and we are actually reaching out to say to them: ‘We have confidence in the GECOM system, and hopefully will get these results very quickly’” he said.
Nonetheless, the PSC urges Guyanese and international onlookers to be patient.