…GECOM chair agrees to live stream, after initially deeming it illegal
…order to be gazetted today

SHOULD plans remain on track, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) will commence the long-awaited national recount process on Wednesday with an order, expected today, to solidify the process.

This was one of the main decisions coming out of an extremely heated meeting, at the Commission’s Cowan and High Streets office, on Sunday.

The meeting was particularly heated, as members of the media, from their position on the pavement, could hear loud screams emanating from the building, as the Commissioners engaged in a verbal battle on the issue of live streaming the recount. “Transparency! Transparency!” one Commissioner shouted while another argued that no one should “hide behind the law.”

Coming out of the meeting, a much more composed Commissioner, Sase Gunraj said: “We intend to gazette the Order tomorrow, after some very minor changes which we will do tomorrow morning, and we’re looking at a start date of the recount process to be Wednesday, May 6, 2020.”

The minor changes include matters in relation to the CARICOM team and a decision to go ahead with live streaming, the latter which drew ‘the heat’ of the discussions.

LIVE STREAMING

On Sunday, according to Gunraj, GECOM’s Chair, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, decided that the entire tabulation exercise will be live videoed and audio streamed and the entire counting process will be audio streamed.

He said that Justice Singh placed the matter up for discussion, again, as she had reservations about the persons behind the conduct of the proposed live stream. The Commission is expected to finalise these changes within the Order, at the meeting today.

“Live streaming will inject the necessary credibility and transparency in this process,” Gunraj submitted, while adding that “GECOM has nothing and ought to have nothing to hide in this process, and, as a consequence, that is something that we should focus on.”

Gunraj believes that due to the availability of technology here in Guyana, live streaming should not be a major technical issue.

However, Commissioner Vincent Alexander has questioned the effectiveness of live streaming the procedure to the public as there is no provision for the public to object or intervene should there be a disagreement with the processes.

He is also displeased that Opposition-nominated Commissioners have quoted Article 162 of the Constitution and Section 22 of the Election Laws (Amendment) Act to justify GECOM’s flexibility to facilitate a live stream, but ignored the provisions altogether, when it comes to the Commission’s intention to conduct more than a numerical count.

“There is no provision for streaming in any of the legislation so if we talk about streaming we can only go to 162 of the Constitution and Section 22 [of the Election Laws (Amendment) Act] that gives us latitude. But, at the same time, those who are trying to use that latitude are seeking to object for the use of that latitude for other things,” he said.

Alexander further added: “You want to take away that latitude when it comes to how we conduct the count. My question is, if you’re transparent, what is it you want to hide in relation to matters such as taking the List, which was used at the place of poll…to determine how many persons turned up to vote and then to check the actual ballots to see if there is a correlation.”

Alexander said that, apart from the live stream, the GECOM Chair indicated that a clear photo should be taken of the ballot boxes, upon their removal from the containers, for record, and to rule out any claims of tampering. She also would prefer that there be an audio broadcast of the counting process.

Though Alexander does not know how such an audio broadcast would take place with multiple counting stations to be present, he explained the possible reason behind Singh’s thinking.

“The Chairperson is very, very conscious of what is taking place in the media -the electronic media, the print media, and, probably, moreso, on social media. Therefore, she is trying to respond by lowering that tempo of aggression — much of which is directed to her — by doing these things,” he said.

SCRUTINIZING TEAM

As it relates to the CARICOM team, Alexander said that the individuals will no longer be described as a “high-level team” but a CARICOM “scrutinizing team” which is still separate and apart from observers.

Unlike observers, during the course of the process, they can express opinions or be asked to express opinions by the District Coordinators, the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) or the Commission. At the level of the work stations, they may only seek clarification.

The scrutinizing team is also expected to provide a report on its observations following the recount.

Should a conflict arise and a resolution does not come from the Supervisors, there is a hierarchy for conflict resolution continuing on to the District Coordinator, CEO and finally the Commission.

Meanwhile, the Chair did not budge on some matters, such as the objection of the Opposition to the opening of the envelopes to determine whether there were errors by the Presiding Officers (POs) during the election tabulation process.

When it comes to the involvement of local and international observers, this was not largely debated by Commissioners as it was agreed that their initial status stands and they remain invited to the process.

“The elections process has not ended, so the issue of re-inviting observers does not arise. What will happen is a reminder or statement will go out there to say that the observers remain engaged and remain invited to the process to observe as is necessary,” Gunraj said.

He added that, thus far, the Carter Center and the International Republican Institute (IRI) have indicated their interest in sending representatives to Guyana.

Before the recount date, local and international observers, as well as party representatives, will be briefed by the CEO on the guidelines of participation in the process.

While there is an ongoing discussion about whether the Carter Center was denied entry into the country, Alexander said that he has heard two separate accounts of the matter, and, either way, their entry into the country is a matter for the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF).

Although Gunraj described the meeting as long, tiring and vociferous with “rank disagreement”, Alexander said that he was confident that everything was set for the recount to begin as planned but he could not speak to ulterior motives.