…blanks livestreaming of recount and nullifying of declarations

IN overturning the majority of 10 motions tabled by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) nominated Commissioners, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has ruled that the National Recount will not be live stream from start to finish nor will the declaration of the results for the 10 Electoral District be nullified ahead of the completion of the National Recount.

Added to that, the Elections Commission, in a majority decision, ruled that the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, will not be ordered to produce the Statements of Poll (SOPs) for District 4 that are currently in his possession, due to the fact, that plans for a National Recount have been initiated.

Those decisions were made on Friday, in response to 10 motions tabled by PPP/C nominated Commissioner Sase Gunraj even as the Elections Commission was preparing to finalise the Operational Plan and Draft Order for the National Recount of all the ballots cast at the March 2020 General and Regional Elections.

At the end of the more than 5-hour long meeting of the Elections Commission at GECOM’s Headquarters, Gunraj told reporters that the motions were intended to address outstanding matters of the Commission with respect to the draft Order. The motions were seconded by Commissioner Robeson Benn and supported by Bibi Shadick, however, they did not gain the support of the Government nominated Commissioners, and in many instances, the Chair of the GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh.

In his first motion, Gunraj sought to have Chief Elections Officer produce the original copies of the more than 800 SOPs for District 4 (Demerara-Mahaica). It was his intention to have the Elections Commission examine the SOPs and copies, thereof, shared among the Commissioners but this motion did not secure the support of the majority of the Commission, including that of the Chair of GECOM.

In justifying her decision, Justice Singh, in an interview with Guyana Chronicle, explained that the Elections Commission, having agreed to proceed with a National Recount on April 3, 2020 cannot backpedal on its decision, noting that the production of the SOPs, at this stage, will be of little value to the process.

“I committed to a recount. I made a commitment to the Court to have a recount; and if you have the SOPs that will not resolve the problem,” the GECOM Chair said.

NO TO LIVESTREAM

In keeping with demands of the PPP/C, Gunraj in one of the motions sought approval to have the entire National Recount live streamed on traditional and or social media but this too did not receive the support of the Government nominated Commissioners nor the Chair of GECOM.

“We attempted, argued for a long time to have some changes, some compromise on this but as it is there is no live streaming to be done,” Gunraj complained.
But Justice Singh, in justifying her decision, explained that to live stream the National Recount, particularly the tabulation of the votes within the ballot boxes would be to breach Section 90 of the Representation of the People Act.

Section 90 of the Representation of the People Act states: “Every person attending at the counting of votes shall maintain and shall not communicate any information obtained at the recount as to the list of Candidates for which any vote has been given.”
That Act, the GECOM Chair, emphasised speaks to the secrecy of the tabulation process. “Because of the secrecy, they cannot show the ballot but what they can do, they can show the results after the results would have been tabulated, I have no problem with that,” Justice Singh explained.

Given the charged political atmosphere within Guyana at the moment, the GECOM Chair, in making her decision, submitted that it would be unwise to expose those involved in the tabulation exercise to the public. However, Justice Singh noted that during the tabulation process, those persons who are entitled to be there, in accordance with Section 86 of the Representation of the People Act, will be allowed to observe the process. Those persons include members of the Commission, duly appointed candidates, counting agents and observers.

“I don’t have no problem showing the Statements of Recount (SORs) and the results, I have no problem with that,” Justice Singh iterated. Government nominated Commissioner, Vincent Alexander expressed similar views even as he referenced to Section 90 of the Representation of the People Act. “The question of live streaming came up and it was clearly articulated that the question of live streaming – putting those ballots up one by one in some stream to the public would not be done. In fact, Section 90 of the Elections Amendment Act prohibits us from doing that kind of live stream,” Alexander said. He too noted that at various periods of the recount exercise, the results would be broadcast.

RESULTS CAN’T BE NULLIFIED

That aside, another motion tabled by Gunraj to have the declaration of results for District 4 made by the Return Officer Clairmont Mingo, and the CEO’s subsequent report, detailing the general results, be set aside but this too did not receive the majority vote of the Elections Commission.

Justice Singh told the Guyana Chronicle that the declaration of the results for District 4 or any other district cannot be nullified at this stage of the electoral process. “The declarations are in abeyance, we put them in abeyance because I cannot replace them until after the recount. They only can be replaced by a new declaration from the recount,” the GECOM chair explained.

Other motions sought to have the a time be limited for the conduct of the National Recount and for the Audit Office or a duly accredited audit firm, to observe the entire process but those were also voted against by the Chairman of GECOM. Gunraj had proposed that the national exercise be conducted within a period of 14 days but GECOM specified a period 25 days subject to review by the Commission.

Another of the motion sought to have a resolution that all members of staff of the Guyana Elections Commission, who were involved in the activities which resulted in controversy, allegations of fraud and legal proceedings in the High Court following Elections on March 2 be removed from active participation in the recount process.
With the Opposition-nominated Commissioners voting in favour of the motion, and the Government nominated Commissioners against, the GECOM Chair was required to vote break the tie.

Justice Singh, in making her decision, indicated that while the Returning Officers have no role in the National Recount, there was no evidence before the Elections Commission, which support the basis of the motion. She emphasised that the National Recount would be a transparent process, observed by those entitled to be there.

Both Gunraj and Alexander confirmed that the GECOM Chair advised that it would be unwise to have District 4 Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo involved in the process. Mingo was responsible for the tabulation of the SOPs for his electoral district, when the electoral process was repeatedly disrupted and allegation of fraud leveled against him and GECOM.

However, a motion tabled treating with the tabulation process during the National Recount, was approved in part by the Elections Commission, much to Gunraj’s satisfaction.

OLD STUFF

In expressing his frustration, Commissioner Alexander said a large percentage of the motions brought by Gunraj, were long decided upon by the Commission, as he pointed to the issue of tabulation of the process. He explained that while the Commission, approved a motion in part on the issue of tabulation, it was made clear that Region 4 votes will be tabulated parallel to other regions.