…GECOM sticking to scrutiny of ballot boxes despite PPP protest
…gazettes order which includes simultaneous counting of votes, live streaming

THE Order, bringing into legal effect the National Recount of the votes cast at the March 2 General and Regional Elections, was published in the Official Gazette of Guyana on Monday, May 4.

The gazetting of the Order now paves the way for the much-anticipated recount to commence on Wednesday, under the supervision of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), and the watchful eyes of scrutineers drawn from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

The Order, which comprises a total of eight ‘whereas’ clauses, was signed by Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, and made by the Elections Commission, pursuant to its powers under Article 162 of the Constitution and Section 22 of the Elections Laws (Amendment) Act.

In accordance with the Constitution and the ruling of the Court of Appeal, the Order states that the Elections Commission will provide overall supervision and guidance to the Elections Secretariat during the conduct of the National Recount, and will serve as the final arbiter of issues not resolved at lower levels. Importantly, it states that an Order on the national recount will be gazzetted, and the final results of the March 2 Elections will be determined and declared.

Notably, while the recount will be conducted by GECOM’s staff, under the direct supervision of the Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, it will be scrutinised by the three-member CARICOM team, and witnessed by representatives of political parties that contested the elections, as well as accredited international and local observers, and advisers to the Elections Commission. The Chairman of GECOM and the Elections Commissioners will also be present.

It also clearly specified the duration of the National Recount, the sequence in which it will be executed, and the contents to be scrutinised. According to the Order, the recount will commence on Wednesday, May 6, at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), and run for a period of 25 days; however, the duration is subject to review during the course of the first week. The 10 workstations, which will be housed within the Conference Centre, will operate every day of the week, from 08:00hrs to 19:00hrs, until the completion of the process.

NO GIVING IN
Based on the Order, the Elections Commission did not give in to the demands of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) that the votes should be counted one region at a time. In fact, the Order provides for the simultaneous counting of votes, starting with the first four (4) Elections Districts: Barima-Waini; Pomeroon-Supenaam; Essequibo Islands-West Demerara; and Demerara-Mahaica.

“The recount shall commence with the allocation of 10 workstations as follows: District 1, two workstations; District 2, two workstations; District 3, three workstations; and District 4, three workstations. The recount for District 4 shall continue at the three workstations assigned to it. The recounts for Districts 5 through 10 shall be conducted, based on the completion of, and at the workstations assigned to Districts 1, 2 and 3,” the gazzetted order states.

Further to that, clear guidelines have been established for the examination of the ballot boxes and the contents therein.
The PPP/C has been vehemently objecting to the scrutiny of the contents of the ballot boxes that are separate and apart from the ballots. According to the PPP, it should be a numerical recount of the ballots cast and nothing else.

CLEARLY-ESTABLISHED
But the Order clearly establishes a procedure for the contents of the ballot boxes to be analysed.
“Upon arrival of the ballot box at the workstation, it shall be first examined to ascertain that the seals are intact. The contents shall then be emptied, and the election materials examined. Notes shall be taken, and records made in accordance with the requirements of the Ballot Box Checklist. Any observation not catered for in the checklist provided shall be recorded on the Observation Report Form,” the Order states.

The supervisers at the 10 workstations will be required to sign off on the Ballot Box Checklists, in addition to the Observation Reports. Those reports will also be signed by representatives of each contesting party, and copies of the completed Ballot Box Checklists and Observation Reports will be given to the party representatives.

“The result of the General and Regional Recount of each ballot box shall be recorded, as provided for, on a Statement of Recount (SOR) upon the completion of the recount of each box,” the Order states, while noting that the SOR will be signed by the person conducting the recount, and the representative of each contesting party in the presence of officials entitled to be there.

It was a breakdown in the tabulation process in District Four that landed GECOM and the District’s Returning Officer (RO), Clairmont Mingo in the High Court. It was alleged that the procedure established in Section 84 of the Representation of the People Act was not followed, and that the RO had substituted the Statements of Poll (SOPs) with spreadsheets, and had failed to project the SOPs as required. This time around, the Elections Commission hopes not to have history repeat itself, and as such, has laid out clear guidelines.

THE TABULATION PROCESS
The tabulation of the Statements of Recount will be done at a central tabulation centre in the presence of the CARICOM Scrutinising Team, representatives of political parties, local and international observers and GECOM officials. “The Statement of Recount shall be projected on a screen to be viewed by all persons present, and the information shall be input into a matrix, which process could be viewed simultaneously by all persons present,” the Order states. Similarly, in the presence of those entitled to be there, all of the SORs will be tabulated by the District Superviser.

A copy of the signed matrix will then be submitted to the CEO, and copies thereof will be given to the parties’ representatives, observers, CARICOM Scrutinising Team, the GECOM Chair and Commissioners.

“The matrices for the recount of the ten (10) Electoral Districts shall then be tabulated by the Chief Election Officer, and shall be submitted in a report, together with a summary of the observation reports for each District, to the Commission,” another section of the order reads. It also indicated that the CARICOM Scrutinising Team will also submit a report to the Commission inclusive of its observations, recommendations and conclusions.

LIVE BROADCAST, NO LIVE-STREAMING
The Order also provides for the broadcast and live-streaming of the National Recount, though the Commission, in a majority decision in the recent past, had objected to live-streaming the process due to conflicts with Section 90 of the Representation of the People Act, which provides for the maintenance of secrecy.

According to the Order, each of the 10 workstations will have a facility which will capture and broadcast a picture of the ballot box, depicting the state in which it was delivered to the workstation, and an audio feed of the recount process. Added to that, an audio-visual facility will be installed in the Tabulation Centre, which will broadcast, live, the entire tabulation process.

BACKGROUNDER
In the eight ‘whereas’ clauses detailed in the Order, the Elections Commission justified its decision to facilitate the National Recount. It noted that while the General and Regional Elections were held in Guyana on March 2, 2020, the electoral process encountered a number of stumbling blocks, and in some instances, parts of the process were legally challenged in the Courts.

It explained that though the declarations of the results were made in accordance with Section 84 (1) of the Representation of the People Act, requests for recounts in a number of electoral districts were rejected, aborted, or held in abeyance. Further to that, a report detailing the results of the elections was submitted to the Chairman of the Elections Commission, but that, too, was held in abeyance, and aspects of the election process challenged in the Court.

Given the challenges that arose, President David Granger and Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo agreed to a CARICOM proposal for a total recount of all electoral districts, as “a means of assuaging the contesting parties and determining a final credible count.”
In keeping with the general consensus among the political parties, the Elections Commission, on April 3, made a decision to recount all of the ballots cast in the General and Regional Elections. Its actions, GECOM has always maintained, are in accordance with the Constitution and the Elections Laws (Amendment) Act.

The final clause states: “AND WHEREAS the Guyana Elections Commission, in exercise of the authority vested in it under Article 162 of the Constitution, and pursuant to Section 22 of the Elections Laws (Amendment) Act, No. 15 of 2000, seeks to remove difficulties connected with the application of the Representation of the People Act, Chapter 1:03, in implementing its decisions relating to the conduct of the aforementioned recount of all ballots cast at the said elections, including the reconciliation of the ballots issued with the ballots cast, destroyed, spoiled, stamped, and as deemed necessary, their counterfoils/stubs; authenticity of the ballots and the number of voters listed and crossed out as having voted; the number of votes cast without ID cards; the number of proxies issued and the number utilised; statistical anomalies; occurrences recorded in the Poll Book.”
Now that the Order has been gazetted, the GECOM Secretariat is actively preparing for the recount.