May 05, 2020 News
President welcomes recount; PPP blasts his statement as ‘hollow’ and ‘placatory’
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) finally gazetted an order for the national recount of votes cast in the March 2 general and regional elections yesterday, beckoning responses from the President and the Opposition.
GECOM has activated its powers under Article 162 of the Constitution of Guyana, and Section 22 of the Election Laws (Amendment) to give legal cover to the recount. The order notes the initial agreement by the President and the Leader of the Opposition to have the recount done, and notes the involvement of the CARICOM scrutinizing team.
It gives a general idea of the procedure of the recount, including the sections of the Representation of the People Act which inform those procedures. The Commission is given supervisory power over every aspect of the recount, and denotes that the Commission is the final arbiter in the chain of command.
The recount is set to begin tomorrow from 8am, going until 7pm, and will continue within that period every day until the exercise ends. The persons entitled to attend this process are the representatives of the political parties, the accredited local and international observers, the CARICOM scrutinizing team, advisors to the electoral commission and the members of the Commission. The provisions for the live streaming of the recount are also described.
President David Granger, in a rare appearance yesterday, welcomed the gazetted order by GECOM, adding that he will accept the declarations which will allow for a democratically elected government. The President said that the elections were free, fair and orderly, but alluded to subsequent events which resulted in the prolongation of the electoral process beyond the deadline set out by the law. The delay, he said, was occasioned by legal challenges in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal. He sought to offer his usual elocution; that he has always complied with the rulings of the Courts, that he has never intervened in GECOM’s work, and that he has always upheld the Constitution.
The main opposition, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), in a release sent out last night, called the President’s address ‘sterile’ and ‘placatory’. The opposition release blasted the President’s notation of the delay caused, without acknowledging the involvement of members of the APNU+AFC coalition and Commissioners he nominated to GECOM. The party also stated that the President, contrary to his words, has violated the Constitution and the Court in instances such as the ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on the no-confidence motion and the unilateral appointment of former GECOM Chairman, James Patterson.
The PPP said that Granger’s promise to accept GECOM’s declarations is a hollow one and requested that the President release his party’s copies of the Region Four statements of poll, to instruct his “rigging cabal” not to undermine the recount, and to intervene and allow the Carter Center and other accredited observers to come to Guyana for observation of the recount.Source: https://issuu.com/gxmedia/docs/may052020