President David Granger on Sunday morning visited the Arthur Chung Conference Centre where the National Recount of the votes cast at the General and Regional Elections is being done.

The President interacted with Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission, Retired Justice Claudette Singh and other officials of the body as he observed the ongoing recount process.

President David Granger on March 14 agreed to have a National Recount following an intervention by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The President and the Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo subsequently signed an Aide Memoire agreeing to a national Recount under the Supervision or Scrutiny of CARICOM.

There were some legal challenges, however, but in the end, the Courts subsequently ruled that GECOM, under Article 162 of the Constitution and Section 22 of the Elections Law Amendment Act can facilitate a national recount. The Court of Appeal was keen on noting, however, that any recount should be done under the sole supervision of GECOM.

The recount commenced on May 6. At the end day 11 of the national recount on Saturday, the Commission announced that it has completed another 49 ballot boxes, taking the total number to 528. As such 1811 boxes are left to be counted.

Of the 528 completed boxes, the tabulation for the General Elections was completed for 500, and for Regional, 501, at the end of Saturday.

With the Barima Waini Region (Region One) being completed on Friday, Region Five has commenced, and a total of 11 boxes have been completed thus far. In Regions Two, Three and Four, the completed numbers on Saturday were 11, 14, and 13, respectively.

In addition to the stats on the count, GECOM also released a table outlining all the issues, a total of 28, that were raised thus far in the recount process, along with the decision the commission has decided upon, for each issue.

Among these issues are the reading of the observation report in the tabulation centre for the benefit of persons with disabilities. It was decided that the observation report will be read and sign language will be used to accommodate the above-mentioned group.

In the instances where party agents supply death certificates to workstations, those death certificates will be attached to the observation report. For valid, rejected and spoilt votes, GECOM has said that, once the intent of the voter is clear, the vote is valid, whether they use a pen, fingerprint, or any of the other methods raised as issues. But in a case where a voter identifies him/herself on the ballot, the vote will be rejected