Georgetown: The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman Justice (rt’d) Claudette Singh on Sunday agreed that the tabulation process of the recount of votes will be live streamed.
Reports indicate that the process will surround every single ballot box and Statement of Recount being displayed on a screen and tabulated. This process the Chair wants to be shown to the public as it happens.
The Chairman is also advocating for an audio feed of the entire recount process.
The contentious issue of live streaming the recount of all votes cast on March 2, 2020 was brought up by the Chairman at Sunday’s meeting following requests made by ten of the 11 political parties that contested the elections.
The incumbent APNU+AFC is opposed to the live streaming and actually wants GECOM to restrict the use of cell phones at the recount site at the Arthur Chung Conference Center.
The Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield who was accused of previously facilitating the fraudulent elections result of district four was also against live streaming.
“At the point of tabulation, there will be streaming, broadcasting of the tabulated results. She also said that she would wish to see the ballot boxes when they’re out of the container, a picture is taken so that it is clear to the viewer that nobody tampered with the seals. In addition to that, she said she wishes to have an audio broadcast as the count proceeds and that is what she unequivocally said,” government appointed GECOM Commissioner Vincent Alexander said.
The Chairman is expected to make an official decision on the way forward for the visual stream on Monday when the Commission meets again.
Opposition Commissioner Sase Gunraj said that live streaming the entire process will “inject credibility and transparency in this process…we have nothing to hide.”
He noted that the GECOM Chair had issues as it relates to the identity of the person conducting the process.
“But at the end of the day, all necessary transparent measures ought to be implemented,” Gunraj said.
