Presence of all officials entitled to witness vote tabulation not necessary – Chief Justice Roxane George

Mar 12, 2020 News

Several persons are entitled to be present at a vote count, according to section 86(1) of the Representation of the People Act. They are the returning officer and such other election officers as he may appoint to assist him in the counting, members of the Commission, duly appointed candidates, counting agents and such other persons as, in the opinion of the returning officer, have good reason to be present.
Though the Act grants these persons the privilege of witnessing the count, Chief Justice Roxane George said in a ruling handed down yesterday, that the presence of all of those persons entitled is not necessary.
In making this statement, the Chief Justice was in agreement with a statement by Chief Justice Desiree Bernard in her ruling on the case of Joseph Hamilton v Guyana Elections Commission.
In that ruling, Bernard had said that the presence of all the persons listed in section 86(1) is not required at the addition of the statements of poll, and that the returning officer has the discretion to determine which persons would have good reason to be present.
Chief Justice George said that it is also within the discretion of the returning officer to determine which election officer will assist him. While the current Chief Justice agrees with the conclusion of the former, she added that, as this era calls for greater transparency in the actions of public officials, “once any of the persons entitled to attends, then the addition must be done in their presence.”
The Chief Justice added that this aspect of section 84(1) of the Act, which calls for the votes cast in favour of each party to be ascertained in the presence of the officials listed in 86(1), is mandatory, meaning “non compliance with one’s scrutiny can result in the invalidity of the process.”
“This may appear to be a fine distinction,” the CJ said, “but I feel it has to be made in the interest of the credibility of the process and in order to update the continued contentions regarding the tabulation and declaration of election results.”

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Presence of all officials entitled to witness vote tabulation not necessary – Chief Justice Roxane George

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Presence of all officials entitled to witness vote tabulation not necessary – Chief Justice Roxane George

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