Elections 2020 – Day 52… GECOM spends another day in meeting pussyfooting about recount details

Apr 24, 2020 News

By Kemol King

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) spent all day yesterday discussing the draft work-plan for the national recount.

Commissioner Sase Gunraj

One Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, said that the way the discussions went through the “fine details… was almost like pulling teeth”.
Another Commissioner, Vincent Alexander said that the engagement was like dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. He said that the “very lengthy meeting” which was extended due to “time-wasting” could be attributed to the proclivity of one Commissioner to keep re-invigorating matters that were already put to rest, even though that Commissioner’s position is a minority one. Alexander said he would not be surprised if the Commission spent time again today discussing the work plan, or if a Commissioner brings up settled matters.
One of the matters he said was rehashed yesterday is that of the number of GECOM officials to be present at each workstation. Alexander had pointed out previously that a decision was taken a few meetings ago for there to be four GECOM officials at each station. The Commissioner did not say who resurrected this matter, but Gunraj did mention yesterday his surety that the number of persons at each workstation can be reduced.
Alexander also appeared disgruntled by one Commissioner objecting to the instructions of the National COVID-19 Task Force.
It is Gunraj who said that GECOM is an independent body that should craft its own recount procedures, even where COVID-19 guidelines are concerned. He said that he disagrees that the Task Force should have the ability to impose restrictions, and that he even disagrees with certain restrictions imposed by the Task Force.
Commissioners also argued over whether it would be best to impose a duration on the recount before it starts.
Gunraj said that the current parameters appear to set the recount duration well over a month. He posited that such a duration would be unacceptable, and advocated in favour of imposing a duration. He said that GECOM can attempt to work toward completing the count within the imposed duration, arguing that it is unfair to all concerned for there to be an open-ended process.

Commissioner Vincent Alexander

On the other hand, Alexander said that the duration cannot be decided on yet. He appeared to espouse a suggestion for GECOM to use the first day of the recount as a litmus test to determine how long it will actually take to examine one ballot box. He noted a proposal for the recount to last 10 days, but said that the assertion for a recount of 10 days is based on premises which are intuitive, at best.
On the matter of the draft order for the recount, it was expected that that would have been finalized yesterday. However, discussions on the work-plan took up most of the time, and the order was only brought up at the end of the meeting, yesterday afternoon.
Alexander said he tabled a new draft, making amendments to the draft that Gunraj originally handed the Commission. He said that the draft order, prepared by Gunraj, included attempts to integrate certain modalities into the recount procedure that were already decided on. For example, Alexander said there was an attempt to include that the results for the first regions to be counted, one and four, would be declared before moving on to the other regions. Alexander opposed this, arguing that the recount should be completed in its entirety so GECOM could have the whole picture before making the declaration of the results. He said that it would take too long to complete the Region Four declarations before moving to the other regions.
Alexander said that the inclusion in Gunraj’s draft order indicated to him that it seems there are ulterior motives afoot, besides the timely execution of the process. His position is that all of the regions’ results should be declared simultaneously.
GECOM also discussed the mechanisms surrounding the document which will replace the Statement of Poll. Gunraj referred to a document he called the ‘statement of recount’. He said that the document will be given to the Chief Elections Officer, the GECOM Chair and the Commissioners. He noted that the Chair will be in possession of the original documents. He added that party representatives will be presented with their own copies of the documents, and that they will have an opportunity to go through the tabulation before signing off on it.
Both Commissioners expressed frustration over how long GECOM is taking to begin the recount, and the slothfulness of the Commission. Alexander said he could only hope that the recount starts in the coming week. But he would not commit to that, because he said the Commission is not operating with the alacrity that would allow him to do so.
Of the Secretariat, Alexander said he is of the view that it is doing all it can.
The recount can only start when the CARICOM high-level team arrives. Though Commissioners indicated that the Chair is in communication with the CARICOM Secretary General, Commissioners are unaware when the team will arrive.
Chair seems inclined to live-stream certain aspects of recount – Gunraj
The question of the live-streaming of the recount is perhaps the most widely unaddressed issue by the Chair of GECOM. She has spoken to the press on just about every other matter but this one, even though calls continue to mount for the public to have live viewership of the count for maximum transparency. Gunraj told reporters yesterday that Singh has expressed “certain views” on the live-streaming of the process, and that she “seems inclined to certain aspects of the process being live-streamed”. He did not say which aspects, but expects the Chair to give more details on that matter today, as GECOM expects to bring the work-plan to its conclusion.
No role identified for Mingo yet – Alexander
Alexander, in response to questions, told reporters yesterday that no role has yet been identified for controversial Region Four returning officer, Clairmont Mingo, in the recount process.
Alexander had said that the post of returning officer is not one that will be activated for the recount, but that persons who served as returning officers may be used. It is unclear who the GECOM staffers are, who will be engaged for the recount. Those staffers are likely to be decided on by the Secretariat.
He said that one Commissioner read out a list of about 12 names of persons who, in that Commissioner’s view, should not be involved in the recount process. Gunraj, for one, has been one of the foremost advocates for the removal of Mingo and certain others.
Gunraj said the Chair told the Commission that certain officers are statutory, and that she is not inclined to remove them. Gunraj remained opposed to that position.
Alexander said that there must be a basis for the exclusion of certain officials.
“Have you brought specific allegations against these persons?” Alexander asked.
He said that there is no basis for their exclusion, if specific allegations about them are not brought before the Commission.
Asked whether it would be better to exclude certain officials to assuage public mistrust, Alexander said that public mistrust is often incited, to an extent even by Commissioners.
COVID-19 Task Force submits report on field visit to GECOM Chair
Public Relations Officer of GECOM, Yolanda Ward, told reporters yesterday that the National COVID-19 Task Force has submitted a report to the GECOM Chair on its visit to the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, the venue at which the recount is to take place.
Ward said that the report indicates the safe spaces to facilitate the 10 workstations it approved for GECOM to use. She said that the report notes that eight of the spaces identified should hold a maximum of 14 persons while the other two spaces should hold a maximum of 10 persons. That means, Ward said, that the Centre should hold a maximum of 132 persons.
Ward added that the report also provided 14 guidelines for GECOM to implement. These include protocols for sanitization, disposal of garbage, rotation of lunch hours and meal breaks, hydration, and opening windows.
Asked whether the protocols speak to sanitizing the ballot boxes, Ward said that the sanitization protocols would likely include the sanitization of the boxes and the materials.
Current declarations were legally made – Alexander
The declarations made by the returning officers have not been nullified. They have only been set aside by the Commission. Alexander maintains that they were legally made.
Asked when they would be nullified, Alexander said if the recount produces new declarations, they would supersede the current declarations.
But at this point, the declarations have not been invalidated, not even the controversial Region Four declarations.
The first time Mingo made declarations for the Region Four General and Regional Elections, it followed a tabulation that was marred by a lack of transparency and accusations of electoral fraud. It was also found to be unlawful, and was vitiated by the Chief Justice. The second pair of declarations Mingo made for the Region Four General and Regional Elections has been similarly marred by a lack of transparency and accusations of fraud. The opposition has also challenged the declarations on similar grounds as the challenge to the first pair of declarations, but that matter is on hold pending the recount.
GECOM meets again today.