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GEORGETOWN, Guyana, May 5, 2020 — The long-awaited national recount of the March 2 General and Regional Elections will get underway, tomorrow.
The Order for the national recount was gazetted, yesterday, Public Relations Officer of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Yolanda Ward, confirmed.
Details of the Order state that the process shall be undertaken, executed and supervised by GECOM and will be scrutinised by a CARICOM high-level team, appointed by the Chair of CARICOM, Barbados Prime Minister, Mia Mottley.
The recount, set to commence at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), will be conducted by employees of GECOM, under the direct supervision of the Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield.
It will see the participation of representatives of political parties; the CARICOM high-level team; international and local observers, accredited by GECOM; and advisors and members of the Commission.
The recount will 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 (3) workstations, assigned to it. The recounts for Districts 5 through 10 will be conducted, based on the completion of, and at the workstations assigned to, Districts 1, 2 and 3, the Order states.
Regarding the live-streaming of the process, facilities will be established at each workstation, to capture and broadcast a picture of the ballot boxes, depicting the state, in which they are delivered to the workstation; an audio feed of the recount process will also be broadcasted; while an audio-video facility, in the tabulation centre, will broadcast, live, the entire tabulation process.
The Order states that the result of the general and regional recount of each ballot box shall be recorded, as provided for on a Statement of Recount, on the completion of the recount of each box.
On the completion of the input of all Statements of Recount for an entire electoral district, the supervisor for tabulation will ascertain, and verify, the entries, and calculate totals for each column, in the presence of the CARICOM scrutinising team, representatives of political parties that contested the said elections, international and local observers and advisors to the Guyana Elections Commission.
Government-appointed Commissioner, Vincent Alexander, said he still has questions about the capability of the commission to broadcast 10 workstations, at any one time, simultaneously.
He said it has been made clear too, that no individual shall photograph or take videos of the process. Persons will not be allowed to use their devices in the centre during the process.
Meanwhile, questions were raised about the international observers still to come to Guyana. Alexander said as far as the commission is aware, the accreditation of all observers remains in place, since the electoral process is not yet completed.
