THE long-awaited results for the General and Regional Elections are likely to be declared in June, days after the completion of the National Recount, which has been extended to June 13, based on an amended order issued by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
The Addendum to the Order, signed by the Chair of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, was published in the Official Gazette on Friday, May 29, 2020. In addition to the extension of the timeline, and an amendment to reflect the 12 workstations that are now in operation at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), the amended order outlines the procedure to be employed, once a report of the recount is submitted to the Elections Commission by the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield. In doing so, it amends Paragraph 14 of the original order.
The amended order states: “The Commission shall, after deliberating on the report at Paragraph 12, determine whether it should request the Chief Election Officer to use the data compiled in accordance with Paragraph 12 as the basis for the submission of a report under Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act, Cap 1:03, provided that the Commission shall, no later than three (3) days after receiving the report, make the declaration of the results of the final credible count of the elections held on the 2nd day of March 2020.”
According to Paragraph 12 of the Order, the matrices for the recount of the 10 Electoral Districts must be tabulated by the Chief Elections Officer, and a report submitted to the Elections Commission, together with a summary of the Observation Reports for each District.
Shortly after exiting a meeting of the Elections Commission at the Conference Centre on Friday, Elections Commissioner Vincent Alexander explained that, in accordance with the amended order, the Chief Elections Officer is required to submit his Report on the National Recount no later than June 13.
He noted that once the report is deliberated upon by the Elections Commission, it will determine whether the Chief Election Officer should use the data to compile a final report for the declaration of the results.
CONFIRM OR NEGATE
Commissioner Alexander explained that during the deliberation on the report submitted on the recount, the Elections Commission will confirm or negate whether persons voted in the place of the dead or individuals who were out of the jurisdiction on E-Day, in addition to a number of other anomalies that have surfaced since the commencement of the recount.
In a separate interview with reporters, Elections Commissioner Sase Gunraj said that the extension was justifiable given the number of ballot boxes left to be processed. There are over 600 ballot boxes from a total of 2,339.
Key among the amendments to the Order, Gunraj said, is the timeframe given for the declaration of the results for the General and Regional Elections. “Finally, the Order specifies the time within which a declaration has to be made by the Guyana Elections Commission of the final results of the elections held on the 2nd of March, 2020, and that date is no later than three days from the 13th day of June, 2020,” Gunraj told reporters.
While Alexander, in his discourse, indicated that the Commission will deliberate on, among other things, the Observation Reports ahead of any declaration, Gunraj contended that GECOM has no such authority.
“GECOM has taken no decision; the Commission has taken absolutely no decision in so far as it relates to treating with any of the issues that have arisen, or may arise during this recount process,” Gunraj contended. To date, more than 1,500 ballot boxes have been processed from a total of 2,339.
The National Recount, which commenced on May 6, 2020, is being executed under Article 162 of the Constitution, and Section 22 of the Elections Law (Amendment) Act under the supervision of the Elections Commission, based on an agreement reached between President David Granger and Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo following the intervention of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_30_05_2020