Elections 2020 – Day 46… GECOM Chair’s “decision” says nothing

Apr 18, 2020 News

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– Decision still to be made on:
• Precise number of counting stations to be used
• Daily working hours for recount
• Live-streaming of recount
• Duration of recount
• Start date for recount
• Exclusion of controversial officials

By Kemol King

Today marks 18 days since the Full Court threw out the High Court injunctions blocking a national recount of the votes cast in last month’s elections. That means the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has had 18 days – to date – to plan and operationalise this recount. Yet, it has failed to do so.
The Chair, Ret’d Justice Claudette Singh, was expected to communicate via email to Commissioners yesterday, on day 46 of Elections 2020, putting a much needed end to weeks of argument at the level of the Commission over a multitude of issues. The contents of the email correspondence she sent out, forwarded to Kaieteur News by a Commissioner and regurgitated in a GECOM press release, did not even give clarity on the most pivotal argument the Commissioners have had in the past week, i.e., the number of counting stations.

Since April 8, Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, presented a plan to the Commission for a recount to last 156 days. The Commissioners have, ever since, argued over whether it should be five, eight or 20 counting stations, after a public outcry communicated to GECOM that the three stations in Lowenfield’s initial proposal just couldn’t get the job done soon enough. The Commissioners could not find consensus.
The Chair said “that there should be no more than ten (10) work stations, subject to the availability of the requisite equipment and technology to display the ballots”.
The Chair also decided that each work station should tabulate its own results and that, for security reasons, all the workstations should be located inside the Arthur Chung Conference Centre Building.
All these decisions, Singh said, were made in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the requirements of social distancing.
Her email ended by saying that she has contacted Prime Minister and Chair of the National COVID-19 task force, Moses Nagamootoo, with some specific requests, and that he has since indicated that an urgent meeting of the task force would be convened to discuss same to provide a response shortly.
This is all that was said.
The Chair’s decision of “no more than ten (10) work stations” is ambiguous. There is a general lack of clarity which was not lost on Opposition-nominated Commissioner Sase Gunraj. He told Kaieteur News that the email was “scant on details and created more uncertainty”.
There were several other issues being discussed at the level of the Commission, and Gunraj has noted that decisions on those are outstanding.
These include, he said, the number of hours per day during which the recount will proceed, the live-streaming of the recount to ensure maximum transparency, and the extent of the process.
There was also no noted determination of the estimated duration of the recount, the most hotly discussed matter in the past week. Nor was there any word on when the public could expect the recount to begin.
Gunraj told Kaieteur News that, even as “the nation waited anxiously on the decision of the Chairman”, GECOM seems content to “drag this process and by extension, the anguish of the nation, beyond the extent of its patience”.
Calls to Government-nominated Commissioners Vincent Alexander and Charles Corbin to solicit comments on the email correspondence were unsuccessful.
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP), a major stakeholder in the election, expressed in a statement its disappointment with the contents of the email sent out by the GECOM Chair.
“Unfortunately, the email addresses merely one of the many outstanding issues and even this singular issue [number of counting stations] is inadequately and incompetently addressed,” the party stated.
“This is absolutely unacceptable. This email has done nothing to advance the process and indeed, raises greater concerns for the future of the process.”
The PPP said that it will dispatch a letter to the Chair, detailing its concerns, and that a copy of same will be published.
A joint statement was also issued by five political parties: A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Change Guyana (CG), Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), The New Movement (TNM) and the United Republican Party (URP).
It noted the Chair’s statements and said that, instead of there being no more than ten, there should be “no less than 10” counting stations.
Then, in the absence of information on the daily working hours of the recount – the parties suggested “two sessions of eight (8) hours each with one (1) break each for lunch and dinner”.
The parties also noted that the four month Constitutional deadline for the convening of a new Parliament is set to pass on April 30 and urged GECOM to ensure the Constitution is not violated, in this regard.
“It cannot be consistent with good administration and the rule of law for more inordinate delay to continue to frustrate the desire of the Guyanese people for an early end to the elections process which started on March 2,” they stated.
“The results are now six weeks overdue and our partners in the international community, including the Commonwealth and the OAS have noted the delay and urged a speedy resolution.”
Finally, the parties stated in light of developments during the tabulation of the Region Four results, that it is incumbent on GECOM to exclude the returning officer Clairmont Mingo and the staffers of the secretariat involved in the production of the declarations.
This was also a key decision the Chair was expected to make, but was not communicated in her email.
Kaieteur News contacted GECOM’s Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward yesterday in an attempt to find answers to the many lingering questions. Ward said, “Today’s decision was on one aspect of the plan. The Chairperson did not commit to a decision on the entire plan.”
She added that she will communicate any subsequent decisions on the plan to the public.

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