…CARICOM Chair calls for “credible and transparent” process

A three-member, high-level team from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) tasked with overseeing the national recount of the ballots cast at the March 2, 2020 polls, touched down at the Eugene F Correia International Airport at Ogle shortly after 1500hrs on Friday afternoon.

Members of the team were picked-up by a Trans Guyana Airways aircraft which island-hopped the region before making its final stop in Barbados and onward to Guyana.

The three member delegation includes Senior Lecturer at the University of the West Indies, Cynthia Barrow-Giles; Commissioner of the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission, John Jarvis; and Supervisor of St Vincent Electoral Commission; Sylvester King.

Earlier on Friday, CARICOM Chair, Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados noted in a statement that the team is capable of undertaking its mandate. She called for the process to be done in the spirit of transparency.”The Community calls on all concerned to ensure a credible and transparent recount process in order to provide legitimacy to any government, which would be sworn in as a result. This process must be completed without further delay,” Mottley said in a statement.

It is likely that the Guyana Elections Commission will announce a commencement date for the National Recount soon and gazette an order for the recount to take effect. Already an operational plan and a draft order for the National Recount to take place have been approved.