…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.