Georgetown: In a bid to further frustrate the elections process, the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield on Wednesday presented a draft plan which includes 156 days to conduct a national recount of votes cast on March 2, 2020.
This is in the aftermath of the entire elections process on March 2nd, 2020 being counted in a few days.
The Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Justice (rtd) Claudette Singh met with Commissioners and the Chief Elections Officer where he presented the draft plan.
Opposition-nominated elections commissioner, Sase Gunraj dismissed such a proposal as “unacceptable.”
“He has given a proposal for the recount and it gives 156 days as the time for completion, which I find untenable,” Gunraj said in the aftermath of the GECOM confab.
He believes that a one-week maximum wait is enough and would be more than efficient.
Gunraj said he finds Lowenfield’s proposal absurd and unreasonable given that this country has already been waiting for over a month for results of less than 500,000 voters and feels that it is an insult to the people of this country.
“This is untenable right now and more particularly given the state this country finds itself in and I have indicated that I will tomorrow submit a proposal, when we meet at 9am. This is just unacceptable,” he said.
Lowenfield’s proposal estimates that each ballot box would take about two hours to be counted and there are 2339 ballot boxes from the 10 regions
On his Facebook page, Gunraj said: “You either stand on the side of decency, righteousness and free, fair and credible elections OR you condone rigged elections “This nation cannot withstand the imposition of such wanton lawlessness on it!! “156 days is unacceptable under any circumstance”.
Meanwhile, the GECOM’s Secretariat subsequently issued a press release as followed:
“The Secretariat of the Guyana Elections Commission has taken note of the public ridicule by some Commissioners on the draft workplan for the conduct of the national recount; presented for discussion, amendments and consideration.
Though cognizant that the 156 days proposed for the activity may be quite a lengthy duration in the present circumstance, the Secretariat had to consider matters of law in relation to the procedures to conduct a recount; approved decisions of the Commission and the current COVID-19 pandemic affecting the health situation of the population.
In this regard, the Secretariat considered the request by the Commission for each ballot to be projected on screen, examination of the contents of the ballot box i.e. ascertaining the number of electors on the list, the number of electors who voted, counting votes cast for both General and Regional Election and validation of spoilt, questioned and rejected ballots.
Against this backdrop, the estimated time for one ballot box to be counted was projected to be two hours; utilizing 3 workstations for 10 hours per day (9:00hrs -19:00hrs) at a central location to count 2339 boxes. Hence, the projected duration as indicated.
The Secretariat finds the comments by the Commissioners absurd, distasteful and unethical particularly since they are aware that the proposal considered the decisions of the Commission and its content is still being discussed for finalization.”
Guyanese cast their vote for a Government of their choice on March 2, 2020. Following the contention surrounding the tabulation of votes in Region Four and subsequent court challenges, the results of the elections are yet to be declared.
At the invitation of President David Granger, a team of Caribbean Prime Ministers, including Dr Rowley, led by CARICOM Chairman and Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley visited Guyana last month to broker an agreement between President Granger and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo for a CARICOM team to supervise that recount.
That agreement resulted in the signing of an aide-memoire which details CARICOM’s role.
The recount was blocked by an injunction but the Full court has thrown out that injunction. The Appeal Court has since upheld the Full Court’s decision but said CARICOM cannot takeover the supervisory roll from GECOM.
With nothing stopping the recount, GECOM Chairman Justice retired Claudette Singh has decided that the agency will conduct a recount of all votes cast.
Many businesses have since closed and persons laid off as Guyana braces with the COVID- 19 and the rigging of the elections has the country in limbo, with international agencies refusing to assist an illegitimate government.
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