CARICOM high level team arrives today for recount

May 01, 2020 News

The CARICOM high level team is expected to arrive in Guyana today for the recount, as confirmed by GECOM Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward, yesterday. GECOM is now in a position to gazette an order for the recount to begin. Ward told reporters last night that three persons are expected. These are Senior Lecturer at the University of the West Indies, Cynthia Barrow-Giles; Commissioner on Antigua and Barbuda’s Electoral Commission, John Jarvis; and Supervisor of the Electoral Commission of St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Sylvester King. The latter two formed part of observer missions for Guyana’s 2020 elections, Ward said. She could not confirm whether those three persons constituted the entire team.

GECOM Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward

GECOM to brief political parties on recount tomorrow
Chair of Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice Claudette Singh has invited representatives of political parties for a Saturday morning briefing on the recount, while 80 GECOM Secretariat staff members underwent a day of recount training yesterday.
An email invitation was sent out yesterday afternoon to participating political parties, with an attached including a ‘final’ draft of the work plan GECOM intends to utilize to guide the count.
The plan states that GECOM will be supervising the recount in accordance with the processed delineated in sections 83, 84(6-11), 87, 89(1), 90 and any other provisions of the Representation of the People Act that the Commission may deem necessary.
The methodology of the exercise is explained in the plan. It states that the 10 working stations will be allocated by region as follows: district one – two work stations, district two – two work stations, district three – three work stations,
and district four – three work stations. It states that an estimated total of 14 persons are expected to be present in each work station. This includes four GECOM staffers to conduct and supervise the recount, six party representatives, one person from the CARICOM team, two observers (local and international), and one police rank.

GECOM Chair addresses staffers yesterday at Arthur Chung Conference Centre (Photo Credit: GECOM)The manner in which each ballot box will be dealt is also described. The numbered ballot boxes will be examined to ascertain the intactness of the seals. Then, all its contents are to be emptied for the staff to sort the presence of all of the materials with a checklist. At the end of the count, each ballot box is expected to be replaced, sealed and returned to the container for storage. The Team supervisor is expected to maintain the movement of ballot box logs that details the chain of custody of the boxes.

Several times during the past few weeks, Commissioners had explained that the method to be implemented resembles the practice undertaken at the close of poll in a polling station.
GECOM had before noted that the team sent by the Ministry of Public Health to assess the recount venue, at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, had said that only eight of the 10 work stations should hold a maximum of 14 persons, while the other two should hold a maximum of 10. The latter two stations would not have the capacity to safely host six party representatives. The stations would also not have the capacity to host all 10 of the political parties that contested the region four elections. According to the document, political party representatives, in addition to being present at the recount exercise, will be provided daily with information on the progress of the recount.
Staff Training
GECOM yesterday held a training session for about 80 of its staff, who will conduct the count. Listed in the plan are the roles of counting clerk, supervisor and tabulation clerk. GECOM’s Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward explained yesterday that the exercise is meant not only to discuss those procedures, but that the staffers will be apprised of the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the recount procedures, as directed by the Public Health team.

CARICOM High Level Team: [from left] Senior Lecturer at University of the West Indies, Cynthia Barrow-Giles; Commissioner at Electoral Commission of Antigua and Barbuda, John Jarvis; and Supervisor of Electoral Commission of St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Ward in response to a question about the availability of masks, said that GECOM is prepared to provide all that is necessary and that masks will be used. However, she also said that GECOM was not sure of the type of masks the Task Force insists GECOM use, and that GECOM will have to interrogate that. She also said that the matter of the frequency at which the masks are changed during the exercise is one that the Commission will have further deliberations on. Reports had surfaced previously that the Public Health team’s suggestion that all persons change their masks every 30-60 minutes meant that GECOM would have to provide about 33,000 masks for the 25-day duration of the recount.

Cameras to be placed
Ward also said that cameras will be placed at the centre by GECOM’s technical staff for the ballots to be shown to persons entitled to witness the count. She said that it is necessary for “all the participants in the room to be able to see and be able to scrutinize the respective ballots”.
However, Ward noted that the proposal to have the recount live streamed is still one that is being considered by the Chair; GECOM, she said, is still operating on the assumption of the Chair’s last decision on the recount, that it would not happen. She had said that GECOM would only provide periodic broadcasts of the progress of the recount. The work plan stated that GECOM will make good use of the media corps to disseminate progress updates.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News