…Commission to await court’s ruling before proceeding with a recount

THE Court of Appeal, on Sunday, will hand down its ruling on whether the Court has jurisdiction to hear an application, challenging the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM’s) decision to facilitate a National Recount, against the background that, declarations have already been made in all 10 Electoral District.

Though GECOM, on Friday, concretised its decision to conduct a National Recount, it has assured the Appellate Court that the recount will not commence before its decision is handed down on Sunday.

GECOM chair, Justice Claudette Singh, through her attorney, Kim Kyte gave a commitment that while a decision was taken by the commission on a recount, such will not commence before Sunday as as such none of the parties would be prejudice.

Outside the commission’s headquarters on Friday, GECOM commissioner Vincent Alexander told reporters that the recount is not one which will be done under the Representation of the Peoples Act but rather , it will be done under other provisions of the Constitution.He said while the commission has agreed to a recount, the modalities of the undertaking are still being considered.

Commissioner Sase Gunraj also noted that several modalities regarding the recount are being ironed out.”We were moving one step forward one step backward in relation to the process and the chair finally ruled, this is what we are going to do and this is the decision and we have to take steps to operationalise that now,” he said of the meeting earlier on Friday.

The commission will be meeting during the afternoon to iron out details of the decision for the recount.

The commission has agreed for a a full recount of the ballots cast at the March, 2, 2020 regional and general elections for all ten administrative regions. The recount will be conducted in chronological order starting from Region One.