Dear Editor,
IT IS widely circulated in sections of the media that a recount is simply a recount of ballots; that is, an iterative process of counting one, two, three and arriving at a total. This understanding has to be dispelled. Guyanese must understand that a recount is for all intents and purposes a thorough repeat of the counting process which occurred at all the places of poll.

It is important to note that in Region 6, a Presiding Officer had to be fired, and in Districts Two, Three and Five, among others, PPP-controlled Presiding Officers were not operating based on the rules set out by GECOM. The recount has to take these facts into consideration.

Most, if not all, polling stations ended the voting process at 18:00hrs, and commenced the counting process. Given the number of discrepancies unearthed in the various districts, I don’t believe that many Presiding Officers followed the counting process.

My understanding of the process is that it requires the Presiding Officers to first count the unused ballot papers. The Presiding Officers would then count the number of names that were scratched off from their copies of the Official List of Electors (OLE). The Presiding Officers would then subtract the amount of names that were scratched from the total number of names on the OLE. The figure they get after doing that subtraction must synchronise with the total number of unused ballots. The next step is to go into the ballot boxes.

The Presiding Officers, upon removing the seals from the ballot boxes, must empty the contents on a table and count the ballot papers in the presence of all. The total number of ballot papers in the box is expected to be the same figure for the amount of names that were scratched from the OLE, and further, the figure of the ballot papers in the box with the figure of the unused ballot papers and the spoilt ballot papers when added together must give you back the total number of electors on the OLE, and also the total number of ballot papers that were issued to the Presiding Officers. In essence, the count must ensure that all the figures correspond and harmonise.

The Presiding Officers are then expected to separate the ballot papers (General and Regional), and start the one, two, three count.

At the end of the one, two, three count, the Presiding Officers are expected to ensure again that the number of spoilt ballot papers, the number of rejected ballot papers and the number of valid ballot papers add up to the number of total ballot papers issued to them. All the information are then placed on a tally sheet, and then placed onto the Statements of Poll.

Since there is evidence in District 3, that on many occasions the Presiding Officers did not place what was on the tally sheet on the SOPs, there is need in the recount process to ensure the tally sheet and the SOPs correspond.

Editor, I may not have chronicled every single action expected of the Presiding Officers during the counting process, but the idea and intention are to ensure that we understand what exactly a count in our elections is. It is a process that seeks to ensure that the total number of valid votes for all parties’ List of Candidates and total number of rejected ballot papers add up to the total number of votes cast at polling stations, and that figure along with the number of spoilt ballot papers and number of destroyed ballot papers must add up to the total number of ballot papers issued to the polling station. There must also be a record of the number of used or unused tendered ballot papers. **In addition, there cannot be more votes than the amount of voters on the voters’ list. This also has to be checked because there are cases in which this occurred.

We must also remember that the count was done in a decentralized manner while the recount from all indication will be done in a centralized manner.

Editor, I have no doubt that the People’s Progressive Party will not want this process to happen especially from Regions One to Ten because they don’t want the world to see and know what they are guilty of but as I have said before let the recount begin and let the chips fall where they may. I humbly await the final declaration in favour of the APNU+AFC.

Regards,
Ganesh Mahipaul

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_04_10_2020

THE Shipping Association of Guyana is the most recent business to have come out against the Private Sector Commission (PSC) for the publication of a statement which does not align with the views of the association.

The association took ill with the PSC’s statement titled ‘Business, religious, labour petitions Inter-American Human Rights Commission to avert political disaster in Guyana,’ in which the commission advocated for pressure to be put on Guyanese authorities to commence a recount of votes cast in the 2020 General and Regional Elections.

At the time, the matter was before the court and the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) was awaiting the ruling of the court prior to its decisions on moving forward. It is only the commission that has the Constitutional right to conduct national elections in the country.  “The Shipping Association of Guyana (SAG) wishes to advise that we did not participate in that statement nor did the SAG agree for its name to be included in the publication of same,” the association said on Wednesday.

The PSC Chairman, Captain Gerald ‘Gerry’ Gouveia, had placed on the petition the name of 27 organisations.  Earlier this week, Kalibur Security, which forms a part of the Guyana Association of Private Security Organisations (GAPSO), also stated that it did relay to the PSC its non-endorsement of the letter to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission.
“Kalibur Security was never consulted by the Private Sector Commission to be part of this mischievous letter signed by Gerry Gouveia. I spoke to the Operation Manager for Sentinel Security and he doesn’t know about it. He told me that he spoke to Mr. John Mortley, who is the president of GAPSO and Mr. Mortley said that he doesn’t know how GAPSO’s name could be used in that letter and that he’s taking action to ensure that the public is informed that GAPSO was never really part of this venture,” said owner and managing director of Kalibur Security, Col. George Gomes.

He referred to Gouveia as a “PPP surrogate” which is only seeking to bring Guyana into chaos for their own political benefit. He said: “The Private Sector under Gerry Gouveia is a mouth piece for the PPP and as the Managing Director of Kalibur Security, there is no way I would ever entertain being associated with any venture started by Gerry Gouveia and the Private Sector Commission. You cannot use the name of an organisation of which my company is a apart without us agreeing for that to be done; without us being consulted.”

It is unclear how many other organisations may not have given their endorsement for the letter. This is not the most recent hot-water fiasco for the PSC — which has been accused of being pro-opposition —, as the commission received public backlash on Monday when it switched gear and referred to the conduct of a national recount as “a waste of time”.

The statement came in a release as the collective view of the PSC but just days earlier, the likes of Gouveia and other private sector members such as Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer, Kit Nascimento and Deodat Indar, had called numerous times for a national recount.

“Plain and simple. Count every single vote in every single box in every single region in a transparent manner under the supervision of international and local observers,” the PSC head wrote on his Facebook page on April 5, 2020 and above an article from the Guyana Times captioned ‘Every vote must be counted for transparent, credible results – Canadian diplomat’.

Responding to the disparity on Tuesday, Gouveia told the media that he was in favour of the national recount but some others apart of the PSC are not. Even so, the statement sent out referring to the exercise as a “waste of time” did not indicate that it was not a collective view of the commission. Questions have now been raised about the motive and authors behind the switch.

Responding to the criticisms on Wednesday, the PSC —- in another collective statement — argued that all other parties, including GECOM, had no contention with the votes counted in other Regions. “The Private Sector Commission reiterates its position that it has absolutely no interest in which of the contesting political parties is elected to govern Guyana,” the PSC said.

“The PSC recognises that it is the duty and responsibility of GECOM to administer a recount of the election results in whatever manner and by whatever method it chooses to do so, within the law, with complete transparency, under local and international observation, but without further delay, certainly, not another five (5) months. The PSC will support GECOM in doing so.”

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_04_10_2020

…PPP-aligned commissioners  counter with 10-day proposal

By Svetlana Marshall

THE Guyana Elections Commission, after meeting for close to eight hours on Thursday, took a decision to have the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield revise his draft operational plan for a national recount to include decisions made on the basis of additional proposals tabled.

Thursday’s meeting, which stretched from 09:00hrs to 16:30hrs, included discussions on the CEO’s draft operational plan, a counter 10-day plan tabled by the opposition-nominated commissioners, and earlier proposals made by the government-nominated commissioners.

In his initial draft operational plan for the  recount, the CEO had indicated that the process would take 156 days; however, the number of days is likely to be reduced based on further guidance given by the commission. It, however, will not likely be reduced to 10 days as proposed by the opposition-nominated commissioners.

Outside of GECOM’s headquarters, government-nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander told reporters that while no decision was taken on the 156 days proposed by the CEO, it was likely that the number of days to execute the recount in the 10 electoral districts would be reduced.

“There is a possibility,” he said, when asked if the number of days would be reduced. Alexander explained that the CEO’s initial proposal was influenced, in part, by an indication that there should be two commissioners assigned to each workstation.

“It is instructive to note that when the CEO proposed 156 days, there were two bases, on which he arrived at that proposal. The first one I mentioned the last time –- that is, how long it will take to count a box; the second reason he arrived at that, there was a proposal from Commissioner Benn, in which he said that each of the operations should be covered by two commissioners. Now that in itself, in the view of the CEO reduced it to three operations, because there are only six commissioners,” Alexander further explained.

However, the commission agreed to have that restriction removed, thereby paving the way for the number of workstations to be increased. “It is very likely that it (the workstations) will increase beyond three,” the government-nominated commissioner posited.

He, however, cautioned that the duration of the  recount will be influenced by a number of other factors, including the time taken to count the ballots in the boxes. “There are still significant decisions to be made based on a matrix of factors in relation to how long the exercise is actually going to take,” Alexander said, emphasising that the time taken to count the ballot boxes would be dependent on the process undertaken.

There is a total of 2, 339 ballot boxes, and according to the CEO’s estimation, it will take each team approximately two (2) hours to count each of the boxes.  It was explained that each ballot would need to be projected on a screen but before arriving at that stage, the contents of the ballot boxes would have to be examined to ascertain the number of electors on the list, the number of electors who voted, counting votes cast for both General and Regional Elections and validation of spoilt, questioned and rejected ballots. In his proposed operational plan, the workstations would operate simultaneously for a period of 10 hours daily (09:00hrs – 19:00hrs) at a central location. Thursday, the commission has agreed that the recount will take place at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre.

Alexander posited that from the inception, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) high-level team which had arrived mid-March to spearhead the process, had acknowledged, and it was agreed by the commission, that it would not have merely been a numerical count of the ballots.

“From the very inception, we made it extremely clear, that it was not a mere numerical recount,” he said, while iterating that the contents of the ballot boxes must be assessed before the count commences. This, he said, is to determine the number of electors listed, and the number of electors who had voted on March 2, inclusive of proxies and valid and invalid ballots cast.

That aside, he confirmed that the opposition-nominated Commissioners Sase Gunraj, Robeson Benn and Bibi Shadick submitted a counter proposal to the CEO’s draft operational plan. Alexander himself had made earlier proposals, which were also taken into consideration during Thursday’s meeting.

Commissioner Gunraj told reporters that the counter proposal sought to bring down the number of days it would take to execute the recount. “Our calculation in that timeframe puts a possible completion of all the districts at 10 days. How did we arrive there? One, the CEO’s document had contemplated use of three stations, and our proposal contemplated the use of 20 stations.  The CEO’s document has a burden time of about two hours per box; we have reduced that number in half,” he explained. Additionally, they proposed that the teams operate 12 hours per day.

Important to note, is that the counter proposal which was seen by the Guyana Chronicle, goes contrary to agreement of the commission, which is to have the recount done in chronological order. According to the opposition-nominated commissioners’ proposal, the recount should commence with Region Four. “The recount will begin with counting of ballots cast for Electoral District Four, since the tabulation of the Region Four results is the basis of the controversy which erupted and the reason for the recount…At the completion of the count for Electoral District Four, the count shall resume with Electoral District One and will proceed in numerical order,” a section of the counter proposal read.

When asked if the counter proposal was accepted by the commission, Gunraj responded in the negative. “It was not,” he responded, but noted that the number of workstations stated in the CEO’s draft operational plan is likely to increase, based on the capacity of the Arthur Chung Convention Centre and other important factors.

Gunraj, like Alexander, acknowledged that the CEO’s proposal was limited based on a proposal made by Commissioner Benn. “The CEO’s suggestion for three tables was informed by his understanding that each table should be manned by two paired commissioners. That provided a major restriction, and with the removal of that restriction, I believe that the number of tables can be expanded very easily,” Gunraj further explained.

Both commissioners indicated that the CEO has been asked to incorporate the decisions taken and some of the proposals tabled into his operational plan and result with the revised document soonest. It is likely that the next meeting of the commission will be on Monday or Tuesday. “We are trying our best to get this on the road so that it can be done…,” Gunraj told reporters.

That aside, the commission has agreed to inform regional and international observers, including CARICOM, that the recount will be executed and their presence would be appreciated.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_04_10_2020

Dear Editor,
For almost 20 years I have been a teacher at the Secondary Level with unbroken services and a Part-Time Lecturer at Cyril Potter College of Education, Vreed-en-Hoop Centre over a decade. Being in such employ has afforded me the opportunity and experience to teach, motivate, inspire and love children and teachers of all walks of life.

During my Primary and Secondary years at Wales Primary, St. Agnes Primary and President’s College respectively, my teachers have done the same as I am doing for my learners. The qualities from which I have benefitted are invaluable, yes priceless. I wish to publicly thank all my teachers.

As I journeyed on to my University years, I realized the value of the non-academic lessons that I benefited from in my younger years have definitely helped to shape and fashion me into a selfless person I have become.

Mr. Editor many of those lessons were taught through the Hidden Curriculum. While at Cyril Potter College of Education as a trainee teacher, I was taught the importance of embracing both the curricular and co-curricular activities. Emphasis was placed on being good role models for students whether in the classroom or out of it.

These opportunities, at the least were and are available to every person who attend schools in Guyana. Sadly, these core values taught in our earlier years seem to be taken for granted or ignored by some prominent individuals in our country, therefore they seem not to care that their reactions to situations and circumstances are affecting others and especially our children who are observing and absorbing.

Disrespect
As teachers and parents we try our utmost to teach our children respect. Respect for self, others and to obey rules. Sadly, our efforts are being challenged by persons who are identified as leaders in our country. I deliberately zoomed into the disrespect for laws of Guyana during the March 2, elections period.

Leading up to March 2, election campaigns, the contents were laced with disrespectful slangs by both presenters and crowd. Polling day Staff, Deputy Returning Officers, Returning Officers and other GECOM staff took oaths, which bound them to obey the laws set out in the constitution of our land. Yet some colluded with political parties to give them an unfair advantage by allegedly attempting to manipulate the process. DISRESPECT!!!!!
In addition, on election day, party members were allegedly issuing ID cards to their supporters for persons who either died or did not reside in Guyana. Some persons were allegedly given the names and serial numbers of persons on the voters list who chose not to vote or are unable to vote for unknown reasons.

Whether the polling day staff was vigilant or not, an attempt to vote for others if unauthorized to do so, is not only dishonest but a blatant disrespect for the laws. In some cases, it has been alleged that unauthorised individuals attempted to remove ballot boxes. DIRESPECT!!!!!

After March 2, there were seemingly deliberate attempts to disrupt the smooth flow of tabulating, verifying and declaring of election results. “While Nero fiddled, Rome burnt” the whole country was waiting, children, parents, grandparents, people with health issues, the intellectuals, the elites, the impoverished and the rest of the world, while the brilliant minds in the judicial system played their games of chess. They played every move, the country was tense, in the meantime social media was set on fire of racism and hatred and blatant disrespect for leaders. Persons even made comments about killing the president, poisoning the greens to kill ‘black’ people, children were hurt in the process, while the game of chess continued. DISRESPECT!!!!!!

Observers who were expected to be people of integrity, blatantly showed their affiliation with political parties, while the oaths they took prohibit such. DISRESPECT!!!!!!
Even after Region 4 votes were counted and recounted, the declaration of the results was blocked, as the game of chess became more intense.

We are now awaiting the declaration of results which may take another 25 -30 days simply because of judicial flirts who wish to demonstrate their brilliance or lack thereof while the world is being entertained. One of the more recent disrespect is where the returning Officer of Region 1 refused to turn in the polling books to his employer. More disrespect will be unearthed. DISRESPECT!!!!!

When adults flout the laws of the country, how do we expect our children to follow them? Why should we expect them to follow them? Why should we be upset if they don’t follow them? In the above mentioned concerns, all the participants were adults. Persons who were nurtured, bred and educated in this system. There is no part in any curriculum which teaches persons to be disrespectful to the laws of the land. NO, NOT ONE PART.

We teach disrespect not only by what we say but through our actions also. When we choose to get on the radio, television and any other medium of public communication and disseminate greed, selfishness, hate, racism and prejudice from a status of great influence, we teach a nation, even a world to be disrespectful.

The pandemic period which creeped upon us, simply because we were distracted by Guyana’s chess games, will be around longer than we expect. WHY? Because we have consumed ourselves in a mode of disrespect. Simple sanitization rules and social distancing instructions we have a difficulty obeying and respecting. This blatant disregard and disobedience have already begun to rob our country of its human resources. The disturbing thing is that innocent persons may die or either become ill due to the virus because of individuals who have become accustomed to flouting rules.

However, it is not too late for Guyana to make a paradigm shift. I call on all concerned to deliberately make the effort to reshape our way of thinking, be selfless, teach the children to be respectful, tolerant, caring and honest. Teach them the positive values of life.
If everyone becomes respectful, there will be a smooth flow of everything.

In conclusion, God is watching us. When we disrespect others, we automatically disrespect God. When we disrespect the orphans and the widows or lead people into suffering, there is a consequence; a consequence which no human can reverse.
I implore you to be respectful.

Best Regards,
Raelene Cadogan

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_09_05_2020

…as recount exercise exposes discrepancies
— edits made on March 7, 2020
— total tabulation removed

THE People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has modified its Statements of Poll (SOPs), one day after the commencement of the national recount process, sparking much discussion on social media.

Shortly after the breakdown in the tabulation of Region Four SOPs by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) in early March 2020, the PPP/C created the website (https://region4sopsinformation.com/) where it uploaded SOPs gathered by its party from the 2020 General and Regional Elections. The site featured the complete tabulation of Region Four SOPs collected by the party but they differed from total tabulation then presented by GECOM. GECOM’s figures showed that the coalition won the elections.
However, PPP/C Executives have maintained that their SOPs are credible and claimed that GECOM staff had tampered with the results on their end.

Refusal to accept otherwise, along with the process used to tabulate the Region’s vote at the Region Four Tabulation Centre, led to string of court battles and the current national recount. However, two months have passed since March and the party found no reason to modify the SOPs information on its site until May 7, 2020, just one day after the recount had started.

Examine the party’s website ‘Index of SOPs’ (https://region4sopsinformation.com/SOPS/) and one would see that data for the East Bank, East Coast of Demerara, North Georgetown and South Georgetown were edited on 2020-05-07, late at night, around 23:00hours.
Open each location individually and one will see that while the scanned copies of SOPs they presented for ballot boxes were last edited on 2020-03-05, the total tabulation for the said locations were each edited on 2020-05-07 near midnight.

This was not the only change made to the site on May 7, 2020. The majority of media entities in Guyana all published reports when the PPP/C first launched the site and shared snap shots in their publications of a table showing the total Region Four SOPs — as calculated by the party — which it proudly brandished at the very top of the site’s home page. However, as of day one into the recount, this information has been pulled from the website and replaced by a banner of the party’s logo. It is unknow why the PPP/C would no longer want this information public having defended it in the past.

Raising eyebrows

Either way, the editing of the website has sparked social media discussions because before it took place, earlier on that same day, the APNU/AFC had put forward evidence showing that information from the recount process largely differed from one of the SOPs on the PPP/C’s website. The recount, being conducted at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), shows that in ballot box #4014 Yarrowkabra Primary School, the APNU+AFC received 160 votes and the PPP, 63. Immediately after, the APNU/AFC stated that it sourced the PPP/C’s information provided back in March to compare, and found that, for the said box, the PPP/C’s tabulation showed 59 for itself and 41 for APNU/AFC. Hours later, seeking to check for themselves, persons on social media shared screen shots showing that the PPP/C website was down depicting ‘Error 1020’ and ‘Access Denied’ when attempts to access were made.

Sometime after, the site returned but with changes made with regards to the banner and edits made to the individual locations in Region Four edited at 2020-05-07 near midnight.
One of the edited documents, in which the said ballot box information is located, presently matches the most recent information coming out of the national recount. The PPP/C has not yet cleared up whether it did indeed edit previous information to match the recount data but, even so, the question as to why any edit to the site in any form were necessary months later remains unanswered.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_09_05_2020

…GECOM to decide on way forward; APNU+AFC says let’s get to the bottom of it
…PPP/C and aligned Commissioner dismiss it as immaterial

THREE days into the National Recount, a ballot box was discovered with more ballots than electors marked as voted on the Official List of Electors – an anomaly which has been brought to the attention of the Guyana Elections Commission.

“There was one instance where the number of ballots in the box is greater than the number of names crossed off on the voters’ list,” Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Commissioner, Vincent Alexander, explained on Friday, while making the disclosure.

Though he did not disclose the name of the village from which the ballot box came, the Elections Commissioner pointed out that the excess ballots amounted to approximately 20 and were included in what was described in the documents as the total number of votes cast. Under the Electoral Laws of the country, the Presiding Officer at a Polling Station is required to cross off the names of eligible electors who would have voted on E-Day.

“It is interesting that the Presiding Officer would fail to mark off 20 plus names; that’s rather interesting,” the Elections Commissioner said, in response to a question posed on whether it was possible for the Presiding Officer to simply have failed to mark off the names of the electors who voted. He said, too, that there was another case in relation to Affidavits

“There was instance today again where the number of people who voted by Affidavit exceeded the number of Affidavits in that Polling Station; in other words there were people who did not vote with ID cards and they were required to sign Affidavits. [However] the number of such people recorded as having voted exceeds the actual Affidavits recorded,” the Elections Commissioner further disclosed

Alexander said the discovery of the excess ballots, and the issue of missing Affidavits were issues of active discussion when the Elections Commission, chaired by Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh, met on Thursday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) where the National Recount of all votes cast at the March 2 General and Regional Elections is unfolding.

“What we have decided is that matters of that sort, the count will be completed but we will no longer include those boxes in the tabulation until such time that the Commission has adjudicated on these boxes. They will be held in abeyance pending the Commission’s adjudication,” Alexander explained. It is however unclear when the Commission will adjudicate on the issue. The Commissioner indicated that the Commission has committed to treat with such issues as matters of urgency.

Ahead of that decision, Alexander noted that, in keeping with the policy of the Commission, an individual can be blacklisted by GECOM if found to have compromised the electoral process. He said that GECOM will not entertain persons who are either incompetent or involved in wrong doing. “This is about building a credible machinery for credible elections,” Alexander said.

Examining documents
The Elections Commissioner had cited the anomaly while underscoring the importance of examining the documents in the ballot box, including the List of Electors, before the actual ballots are recounted. The documents being reviewed in accordance with the Checklist include the number of electors struck off as voted – marked on the List of Electors; the number of ballots added through Intermix of Disciplined Forces and Non-Residents; the number of electors who voted by use of Certificates of Employment and the Number of ballot counterfoils (ascertains used ballots).

Inconsequential
But Elections Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, in a separate interview, told reporters that the anomalies discovered are inconsequential to the recount. “The issue is, what we are doing at the end of the day is a recount of the votes,” Gunraj said while noting that if there are anomalies they ought to be included in the observation report as the system provides for.

Unlike Alexander, Gunraj contended that the discrepancies are immaterial and would not affect the outcome of the recount. “If a Presiding Officer deliberately did not mark off that list, how does that affect the number of votes? Everybody was in that station; and as I said this is a recount, this is a secondary layer; a count was already done at an appropriate time,” Gunraj said as he became heated upon being pressed for answers.

Iterating that it is merely a numerical recount, Gunraj said Section 89 of the Representation of the People Act does not provide for the examination of documents during a recount, and as such GECOM should proceed to count the ballots without delay. However, Alexander has repeatedly indicated that the National Recount is not covered under Section 89 of the Representation of the People Act.

In fact, the Order, which legally triggered recount, makes no reference to Section 89 of the Representation of People Act but rather Article 162 of the Constitution and Section 22 of the Elections Law (Amendment) Act.
Like Gunraj, the Presidential Candidate of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Irfaan Ali, dismissed reports of discrepancies, in addition to the decision of GECOM to examine documents in accordance with the Checklist provided for in the Order.

“There are explanations for all of these things. At the end of the day this is a recount of the ballots that were cast, in some of the ballot boxes you had the mixing of the Disciplinary Service Votes; you have votes by certificates of employment, so the ballots are there, the ballots are reconciling. So it is the ballots that matter at the end of the day,” Ali told reporters. He said the PPP/C sees no difficulty. In fact, the PPP/C, weeks ahead of the recount vehemently objected to the documents being scrutinized.

“An elections staff may not have ticked all the names; the presiding officer may not have ticked all of the names, that is immaterial to the ballots; at the end of the day it is the ballots,” the PPP/C Presidential Candidate maintained.

But A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Candidate, Ganesh Manipaul, whose workstations unearthed a number of discrepancies on Thursday, underscored the importance of scrutinising the documents as provided for in the Order gazetted by GECOM on Monday.

He said in the station, which was assigned to Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), there was a ballot box with 11 oaths of identities that were unsigned. “An oath of identity is taken when you do not have your Identification Card and it means that you have to present yourself to the Presiding Officer, take the Oath of Identity and sign confirming that that is who you are before you proceed to vote,” Mahipaul explained while noting that there eight (8) signed Oaths of Identity.

The APNU+AFC Candidate said the discrepancies present a very worrying situation. He said given the anomalies, it is important to scrutinise the documents, as he hinted at the possibility of the electoral process being compromised at some stage.
“We are clearly seeing who was afraid of the recount, when you actually go into these ballot boxes and you find these discrepancies. I guess the truth is now coming out,” Ganesh said.

GECOM Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward, said the Order and the Work Plan were clear. “They do focus on other contents in the box because for every recount you have to go to the other envelopes that would focus on spoilt and rejected ballots, because you can very well have a situation where a ballot has become rejected or has become valid, so it is important not to focus on what is deemed a valid vote in the box and not go to the other contents in the envelopes to scrutinise because you may very well have a situation where a ballot, which has been deemed rejected becomes valid,” Ward explained.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_09_05_2020

THE recount of ballots for Region Three was halted, during the afternoon period on Friday, after some ballot boxes were found to be without their Official List of Electors, without the required envelopes and unsigned oaths of identity.

This incident has been reported to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and a decision is expected on how Counting Agents must now proceed.

This was one of the updates provided by APNU+AFC agent, Ganesh Mahipaul upon exiting the Arthur Chung Conference Centre during the first half of the day. He is positioned at workstation five, dealing with the votes cast in Region Three.

He said that when the first ballot box #3040 Arthurville Primary, Wakenaam, came to the workstation, it was observed that, while it had its general plastic seal, only a piece of the seal placed by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) was on top of the box’s cover. However, given that there were other seals on the outward part of the box, it was opened for counting.

Mahipaul said that another snag was reached when the ballot box was opened but there was no Official List of Electors also called the “pink list” and the wire seals in the necessary envelopes were missing.

“It begs the question as to what really went on at that ballot station but we could not have continued with that count because there was no Official List of Electors,” he said. “Unless we could have done this reconciliation with the pink list then we cannot go on to do what is necessary for us to have a fair, transparent, credible count of that particular ballot box.”

Mahipaul said that it was unfortunate that the PPP/C and other small parties kept on insisting that the ballots be counted nonetheless. The agent held his ground against the parties as he noted that the pink list is key to determining that the number of ballots in the box matches the number issued by the GECOM based on the number of electors on the pink list.

He is pleased that the decision was eventually taken to have the contents be replaced in the box, that the box be resealed and that it be replaced in the container of ballot boxes.

When second box was taken up from the Anna Catherina Nursery polling place, Mahipaul said that it had a “series of PEs” that are missing —- referring to the yellow envelopes required to be placed in ballot boxes. Each envelope is labelled with the letters PE and carries numbers such as PE 1, PE 2. Each PE has labels and represent the content within the ballot boxes.

There were also 11 unsigned oaths of identity at the said polling place. It is highly unusual for such a large number of oaths of identity to be found in a single ballot box and this was deemed as a red flag by one election expert.

Mahipaul lamented that this was allowed by the GECOM staff previously assigned to these polling stations noting that the materials are necessary in such a process and even in the case of an election petition.

Although he objected to the second box being counted without a resolution, the Supervisor instructed that the counting proceed but a note be taken of the discrepancies and objections.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_09_05_2020

Dear Editor
I must confess I was very gratified to see the number of young people who were lining up early yesterday to spend 11 hours in (relatively) close confinement doing their civic duty in this time of viral political and covid19 contagion. The face masks seem especially appropriate at this time because they provided prophylactic protection for both diseases. At the same time the multi-colored/fabric face-coverings as well as the social distancing also seem appropriate in this struggle for freedom of expression and for free and fair election results.

I am not entirely surprised by this display of fervor. My recent readings and reflections on Guyana’s elections dilemma have exposed me to an underlying political current which was being followed by the Latin American Public Opinion Project ( LAPOP,

www.lapopsurveys.org). They had conducted six rigorous and comprehensive surveys of Guyanese (in 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016) as part of their study of the Political Culture of Democracy in the Americas. The statistical accuracies of their polls were no less than +or- 2.5% across 25 Caribbean and North, Central, and South American countries. The initial (2006) survey was conducted and reported by UG’s Institute of Development Studies and was used to arrive at a number of conclusions concerning democratic attitudes, values and behaviours of Guyanese.

The second (2009) study was expanded to provide greater representation of Guyana’s 10 regions and another full report was prepared. Since then, beyond two brief power presentations in 2014 and 2016, there has been no known effort to complete full reports or to track changes in opinion over time. The data for all the studies as well as the reports and presentations are available, for free, on the LAPOP website. Guyana was not in the 2018 round of surveys and may no longer be part of the project.

There is a surfeit of information in the first two reports. I extracted the following data during my attempt to understand Guyanese’ ideas about democracy, elections, political representation, and governance. This much I learned:

1. The majority (52.2%) identified democracy as a process or a certain set of values which encompassed freedom of expression and free and fair elections. However, for more than a third (34.3%) felt democracy had no meaning. The others felt democracy was either a bad idea or should be assessed based on economic outcomes.

2. Only about one in eight (12.2%) identified with a political party in 2009, a decrease from the one in five (19.4%) in 2006. This was a significantly lower level of party identification than every other country in the LAPOP;

3. There were 70% of the respondents who said they voted in 2006 (about average for LAPOP countries). Of note, regional turnouts were statistically the same (with the exception of the difference between region 5&6 being more likely to vote than in region 4); ethnic voter turnouts were statistically the same (except for Amerindians who were less likely than Indo-Guyanese to vote); and while more females voted than males and more elders voted than younger voters, there were no statistical differences by wealth, education and location.

4. When asked why they did not vote, one in three (35.4%) non-voters said they had no interest in voting for any of the candidates; one in four (24.3%) said they had no ID card or were not listed; and one in five (20%) said they were either sick or not interested in voting.
5. When asked why they voted the way they did, three in every ten voter (29.2%) gave a party as the reason for their vote; the rest were evenly split between the 35.5% who voted for the qualities of a candidate and the 35.2% who voted for the platform of a candidate.
6. The PPP voters were significantly more Indo-Guyanese, rural and those who identified with the ethnicity of their parents and/or perceived the nation’s economic situation to be improving, but less likely to be Amerindian or those concerned about their personal economic situation.

7. The PNC voters were significantly positively correlated with older voters, Afro-Guyanese and those who were optimistic about the nation’s economic future.
8. The only distinguishing factor among AFC voters was they were more likely to have some level of tertiary education

9. Cross-tabulation of ethnicity and party voting revealed that two in three (68.7%) of the respondents who voted for the PPP were Indo-Guyanese; seven in ten (71.5%) of PNC voters were Afro-Guyanese, and two in five (39.6%) Mixed and one in three (31.5) Amerindians were the bulk of the AFC voters. Mixed voters made up a greater proportion of PNC (two in ten or 22.7%) voters than PPP (one in ten or 11.3%) voters while Amerindians made up a greater proportion of PPP (one in six or 16.3%) voters than PNC (one in 25 or 4.0%) voters.

10. The calm of 2006 election seem to have inspired greater voter interest. In 2009, eight out of ten (81.6%) of respondents had already registered for the 2011 election which was very high for LAPOP countries. Mixed and Amerindians were significantly less likely to have registered than Indo-Guyanese and the wealthier and urban respondents were more likely to have registered,

As they say, long story short: the majority of Guyanese care about their democracy and relatively (compared to LAPOP countries) large numbers voted for, despite their relatively low affinity with the political parties. The data indicate there those few (one in three) who vote along party lines but the vast majority have other reasons for which they would have preferred to vote. That the two major ethnicities voted overwhelmingly for the major party of their ethnicity may have more to do with electoral and constitutional constraints (identified by those calling for electoral reform). In fact, the turnout for the AFC indicates that the two fastest growing ethnic groups are among those seeking representation beyond the long dominant ethnic parties.

This current outpouring of interest in the election process as well the results is a reflection of a majority view that democracy is important and free and fair elections are its most important protections. The strident young voices I am hearing are echoing Guyanese growing concerns (LAPOP has 10-year trend data on) about: personal and national security, individual and national economy, public corruption, support for the political system and democracy, political tolerance, and trust in public institutions. Two alarming trends: 1) significant decline in public trust especially the police (lowest in LAPOP countries), political parties, judiciary and election institutions; and 2) one in five citizens who prefer authoritarian rule instead of a democracy.

In the current tumult I am seeing signs of positive change. I liken this to the Arab Spring, but with a Guyanese flavour. The young people are coming forward as never before; they had launched 17 parties, nine of whom contested the elections, and they are staying the course of this long, exhausting, and frankly unhealthy path to protecting free and fair elections. I commend their effort and hope they inspire others: young and old, hot and cold, sweet and sour, frowsy and fresh to join them in forging a Guyana we can all be proud of.

Regards
Rory Fraser

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_09_05_2020

— but acknowledged need for quickening the pace of recount

By Gabriella Chapman

THE A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Private Sector Commission (PSC) have commended the recount process thus far, even though the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has criticised the current pace as slow.

Day three on Friday got off on a good note with positive feedback from agents and local observes.

Minister with Responsibility for Youth Affairs, Simona Broomes, told reporters that the process is getting better as it progresses. She said the pace may seem a bit slow but several things have to be taken into account in the recounting.
She said it must also be noted that not every day the same set of staffers work at any given work station.

“After the first week or two we can build a better momentum. I expect we can do more boxes and that depends on the box that they bring out because it varies. But all in all, we’re moving and once the process is moving, we know that we are walking right to the end. We’re committed to the process as a coalition, to stick with it to the end, to allow for GECOM to do their work, to respect the process. They have gazetted the order, we all saw the order, and it was agreed on. Even what you like and don’t like, GECOM is in control of this process, and you would have heard it from no other person than His Excellency that he will allow for GECOM to do their work… We are confident, we are humble and we are looking,” Broomes said.

As some agents are complaining about the tabulation process, she further commented that “GECOM is in control of this process, so if GECOM says we’re going to tabulate to the end of the day, we’ll tabulate to the end of the day. We don’t have any problem. We’re starting this where everyone is at the same line. Nobody got any advantage over anybody with this.

It’s what is in the box is what we’re going through. It can’t get any better than this. But I find that there are no qualms in GECOM’s intention at this time. GECOM is doing its best to bring credible results. The eyes of the eagle are on the recount, and that is why we are here.”
Echoing Broomes’ sentiment, Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan, added that the public has to be patient with this process.

UNPRECEDENTED SCENARIO
“This is an unprecedented kind of a scenario. The last one that I know of that happened, that took months, probably a year or so. We are going to learn of the time it takes really, by midway, after the second week. More and more you will see people getting more and more efficient. Because [at] the start off, we might not have every one of them understanding everything.

So time, if it’s regarding slothful now, it can be improved upon, and I really can’t answer the question of how long it takes, but whatever length of time it takes, I want everybody, political parties, press people, to all the citizens out there, to appreciate the need for patience, because quite frankly, this is what is going to bring it to a finality. If we have to wait a couple more days, why not?” Ramjattan emphasised.
PSC Chairman, Gerry Gouveia, who is functioning as a local observer, said the process is indeed slow but he is absolutely impressed with the work of GECOM.

“I believe it is slow but I believe that we have to legitimately answer all the queries of political parties. It is a recount of the ballots so I believe that is the important thing. I think the process is a very good process. I am impressed; it is very transparent, very credible.

The GECOM staff that are conducting it are very well trained and they are being vigilant and very professional and very courteous. So I believe that the process as it is, is a good one and I think as they go on, the process will speed up. I personally have not seen any deliberate attempt by GECOM to slow it down,” Gouveia said.
He explained further that there are over 10 observers and they have all given him positive feedback on the process.

VERY GOOD REPORTS
“All the reports we are getting from our observers are very good; that the GECOM staff are doing their job with discipline and diligence and professionalism. The big thing now is time. If they’re doing the same level of diligence they’re doing now, there will be difficulty in completing in 25 days and I believe the answer should and would have been more stations. I think that we all recognise 10 stations to count 2,339 boxes is a stretch. We would have had to be doing that at about 100 a day… I guess we will see as it speeds up,” he said.

Meanwhile, PPP agent, Anil Nandlall, said that the pace is a fundamental issue for his party.

“It is undesirable and we hope, every day, that we can increase the speed of the process. Yesterday for the first time, the tabulation exercise got underway. Unfortunately, it did not complete or unfold as we expected. We were told that all the boxes counted for the day, will be tabulated at the end of that day, and that did not happen. Some 63 boxes were counted and only just over 20 were tabulated, completed in the tabulation centre yesterday, and that has to improve. We are hoping that we can get GECOM to increase the hours of the tabulation exercise,” Nandlall complained.
He said that the report is that the tabulation exercise is being delayed because of the dependence upon an observation report.

“[THIS], I have articulated yesterday has no relevance to the tabulation exercise. And I am told that the preparation of that report is a time consuming exercise and that is what is causing some delay in the tabulation exercise. We hope to iron out that today,” he said.
However, GECOM’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Yolanda Ward, did indicate that the observation report is absolutely necessary for the process.
GECOM is working assiduously to ensure a smooth, transparent flow of this national recount exercise.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_09_05_2020

…as GECOM sees improvements in recount process

AS of Friday, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) managed to count votes contained in 108 ballots boxes drawn from Region One (Barima-Waini), Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) as it sees improvements in the National Recount Process.
On the first day of the National Recount of the votes cast at the March 2 General and Regional Elections, only 25 ballot boxes were counted due to a number of teething problems, but as the issues are addressed, the number of boxes are increasing. On the second day of the recount, 40 ballot boxes were processed while on Friday – Day 3 – 43 ballot boxes were counted.

“So far for Day 3 of the recount exercise we would have counted 43 boxes; we had 10 for Region One, another 10 for Region Two, 11 for Region Three and 12 for Region 4. So in total we have just about 108 boxes completed overall,” GECOM’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) Yolanda Ward disclosed at the close of operations at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre where the recount is taking place.

There are a total of 2,339 ballot boxes, and with 108 completed, it therefore means that 2,232 ballot boxes remain to be counted.
On Thursday, the Elections Commission at a meeting at the Conference Centre took a decision to tabulate the Statements of Recount (SORs) as they are submitted to the Tabulation Centre. In making that decision, the Commission had said that the tabulation will be conducted on a daily basis from 17:00hrs to 18:30hrs, and in accordance with the Order, the SORs will be tabulated upon the completion of an entire Electoral District. However, on Thursday it indicated that the tabulations hours are likely to be extended. A decision is expected today.

When asked what sparked the Commission’s decision to tabulate the SORs daily, Ward reminded that the Chair of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh was approached by a political party, asking

“From the Order the plan was never to have an ongoing tabulation exercise daily, the order did say that tabulation would be done at the end of every region but of course based on some objections and suggestions by stakeholders, when the Commission met they decided that it would be useful to have the process commence earlier, so as to do a daily tabulation,” Ward explained.

She noted that though the tabulation process commenced a bit late, significant progress was made in tabulating the votes stated on the SORs. “But at the end of day’s tabulation exercise for the General Elections, they were able to process 74 [Statements of Recount] out of that 108 boxes that are completed, and 63 boxes for the Regional Elections,” the GECOM PRO said while noting that the tabulation process is on stream. Each SOR is accompanied by an Observation Report.

GECOM has set aside a period of 25 days to conduct the recount, however, this period according to the Gazetted Order is subject to review. According to Ward, the Commission will meet next week and deliberate on the duration. This was confirmed by Elections Commissioner Desmond Trotman.

“Certainly I believe before the week is out or by the time the end of the week comes around some reviews will take place,” Trotman told reporters. The Elections Commissioner noted that the process of recounting the ballot is improving.
“I thought that the process today went fairly well. There have been an increase in the number of boxes that are being processed….Even though there have been some glitches, I do believe that everything have gone fairly well,” he posited.

Representatives of the various political parties indicated that though the process remains relatively slow but said many of the teething problems experienced on the first two days have been addressed allowing for a smooth process. The National Recount is being observed by the parties that contested the General and Regional Elections in addition to local and international observers including the Organisation for American States (OAS), the Canadian High Commission, the CARICOM Scrutinizing Team, the Private Sector Commission and CUFFY 250 among others. Notably, there are strict security and COVID-19 measures in place.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_09_05_2020