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Region One recount completed – Commissioner Gunraj claims COVID-19 Taskforce stymieing additional workstations
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) yesterday completed the recount of all 99 boxes for the Region One district, during the National Recount Exercise which is currently being conducted at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), at Liliendaal on the East Coast of Demerara.
GECOM PRO, Yolanda Ward
GECOM was initially expected to complete the recount for that district on Thursday, but were stalled due to the soaked condition which one ballot box was discovered in on the first day of the recount exercise. Yesterday, however, the contents of that box were dried and the completion of the recount was subsequently ordered. According to figures on GECOM’s site, the APNU + AFC acquired 3905 votes, while the PPP/C gained 8,022 votes on March 2 in the General Elections. With regards to the Regional Election, the Coalition secured 3, 839 votes, while the PPP/C secured 7, 996.
Number of ballot boxes to be counted by region
The final Region One tabulation showed a 20-vote reduction in the People Progressive Party/ Civics’ (PPP/C) General Election total. When questioned about what could cause such a reduction, GECOM’s Public Relation Officer (PRO), Yolanda Ward said that, “It’s a recount and things are likely to change for any party. Rejected votes become valid. Valid votes become spoilt or rejected.”
The Coalition claimed yesterday that some of their votes were found in the PPP/C’s file, but Ward could not confirm since she was unaware of the specifics in the tabulation. Furthermore, Aubrey Norton, an executive of the Coalition claimed that during the recount process, his party managed to secure an additional 120 votes. However, when this publication compared the declarations to the recount figures it was discovered that they only gained an additional four.
Ward went on to say however that on Day 10 of the exercise, the Elections Commission managed to complete the recount of 58 ballot boxes—13 in Region 2; 17 in Region 3; 15 in Region 4 and 12 in Region 5. Combined, these figures represent some 479 of the ballot boxes, which have been processed thus far.
Table showing the declarations compared to the recount of the General Elections
Meanwhile, despite assuring the Chair of GECOM Ret’d Justice Claudette Singh of a prompt response to the approval of six new work stations for the National Recount, the Commission is yet to receive word from the National COVID-19 Task Force. GECOM intended to add six new workstations to the ten already in place at the site of the National Recount; the Arthur Chung Conference Centre with the aim of increasing the pace of the recount to meet the 25-day timeline set.
Commissioner Sase Gunraj told the media yesterday that the Commission daily meeting was not held because of this.
“The reason for us not meeting today is the failure of the COVID-19 Task Force to provide a report of our visit yesterday,” Gunraj said.
Gunraj said that it was expected by the end of yesterday morning that GECOM would have received a correspondence from Task Force in relation to the walk through they had at the facility, but no such correspondence was received. This now puts the Commission in a difficult position as according to Gunraj, as they would need the report before moving ahead to implement the additional workstations with COVID-19 safety measures in mind. He reiterated his view that the progress of the recount is being stymied by the Task Force.
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