…PPP commissioners request time to consider proposal
AT a meeting of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Wednesday it was proposed that the deadline for completion of the national recount be extended for another 17 days, the Guyana Chronicle has been reliably informed.
Initially, the elections commission headed by Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh had set a 25-day timeline (Mat 30) for completion of the recount; however, with 956 ballot boxes left to be processed, an extension of timeline is necessary.
During Wednesday’s meeting at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) – the venue of the recount – it was proposed that the national recount be completed no later than June 16, inclusive of the tabulation of votes by the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield. Opposition- nominated Commissioners have however reportedly asked for time to consider the proposal.
Added to that, the commission is actively considering the option of increasing the number of workstations; however, it is awaiting advice from the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF). Initially, there was a total of 10 workstations operating within the centre; however, the commission increased the number to 12 in an effort to accelerate the recounting of ballots cast at the March 2 General and Regional Elections. To further increase the pace, the commission proposed the addition of two more stations but requires clearance from the task force in view of the emergency measures instituted to eliminate the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
1,383 BALLOT BOXES CLEARED
At the end of Day 22 (Wednesday), the elections secretariat proposed a total of 1,383 ballot boxes from nine of the 10 Electoral Districts – Regions One to Nine – from a total of 2,339.
According to GECOM’s Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward, 93 ballot boxes from Regions Three, Four, Six, Seven, Eight and Nine were processed. Of that number 19 ballot boxes were from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); 22 were from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica); 19 from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne); nine from Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni); 11 from Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni); and 13 from Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
PPP/C prime ministerial candidate Mark Phillips, while describing Wednesday as the “best day” since the recount started with more than 90 boxes processed, expressed the few that more ballot boxes can be processed with additional workstations. “What is important, of all the ballot boxes counted so far, is that we have less than 4,000 rejected ballots, and in addition to that, less [sic] than a 100 of those rejected ballots were unstamped,” Phillips said.
Notably, all of the ballots from Region One (Barima-Waini), Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) and Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) have been recounted.
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 election 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 of 12,111 valid votes were 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 election the APNU+AFC raked in 3,843 votes while the LJP secured 144, the PPP/C, 7, 996 and the URP 77 votes. There was 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 election while the PPP/C raked in 18,785. A New and United Guyana (ANUG) received 85 votes while Change Guyana (CG) got 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 the LJP secured 135 and the URP, 95. There was a total of 26,491 valid voters in the regional election for Region Two.
Additionally, 1,337 Statements of Recount (SoRs) have been tabulated for the general election and 1,336 SoRs for the regional election, including all from Regions One, Two and Five.
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_05_28_2020