…1,290 more to go as deadline nears
With less than seven days left before the 25-day timeline expires, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has 1,290 ballot boxes left to be processed with only 1,049 completed to date.
On Saturday – Day 18 of the National Recount of the General and Regional Elections – votes within 85 ballot boxes were recounted taking the overall number of boxes processed to date to 1,049. Of the boxes processed on Saturday, 16 were from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 23 from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), 15 from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), 20 from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) and 11 from Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).
Thus far, all the ballot boxes from Region One (Barima-Waini) and Region Two (Pomeroon-Supanaam) have been counted. There were a total of 99 ballot boxes from Region One, and 135 from Region Two.
Based on the votes recounted for Region One, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) secured 3,909 votes in the General Elections while the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) raked in 170, PPP/C 8002, People’s Republic Party 24 and the United Republican Party, six – a total number of 12,111 valid votes cast. According to statistics coming out of GECOM’s Tabulation Centre at the ACCC, there were 328 rejected ballots and 41 spoilt ballots.
In the Regional Elections, the APNU+AFC raked in 3,843 votes while LJP secured 144, the PPP/C, 7, 996 and the URP 77 votes. There were a total of 12, 060 valid votes cast by a total of 12, 440 persons who had presented themselves on March 2 to vote in Region One.
Meanwhile in Region Two, the APNU+AFC secured 7,340 votes in the General Elections while the PPP/C raked in 18,785 votes. A New and United Guyana (ANUG) received 85 votes while Change Guyana (CG) 151, LJP 121; PRP, 57; The Citizenship Initiative (TCI) 18 and URP, 64. In total, there were 26,621 valid votes cast.
For the Regional Elections, the APNU+AFC received 7,290 votes while its primary contender – the PPP/C – secured 18, 755. The smaller parties, Change Guyana (CG) raked in 216 votes while LJP secured 135 and URP, 95. There were a total of 26,491 valid voters in the Regional Elections for Region Two.
Added to that, 999 Statements of Recount (SORs) for the General Elections have been tabulated and 1015 SORs for the regional elections.
Though seven days remain before the self-imposed deadline expires, the Elections Commission has not decided on an extension. The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has suggested that the duration of the recount be executed for no more than a week.
However, in its quest to accelerate the pace at which the ballot boxes are being processed, GECOM has written the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF), seeking approved to establishment two additional workstations. A response from the Task Force is pending.
However, last week, the COVID-19 Task for had only approved two from a proposed six; taking the total number of workstations to 12. Elections Commission now wants to establish two more to increase the number of ballot boxes processed on a daily basis. Clearance from the Task Force is needed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergency measures instituted by Government to suppress the disease.
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_24_05_2020