All systems are a go, as the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) embarks on the recount of the votes cast in the March 2 General and Regional Elections slated for Wednesday, May 6, at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre in Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara. Both Government and Opposition nominated commissioners communicated this to the media earlier today at the Commission’s, Kingston Head office.
The order for the recount has been gazetted. According to the document, the exercise will be scrutinised by agents of parties that contested those elections, along with a team from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and observers.
According to Opposition-aligned Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, the entire counting process will be audio streamed.
“You will be hearing what will be happening. In the tabulation centre, that entire process will be livestreamed in terms of audio and video. As well, what will be broadcasted to the public is the state in which the ballot box is presented to the workstation before the process starts…And this is what was agreed to by all parties,” said.
Asked which entities will be doing the broadcasting, Gunraj said those details are to be ‘worked-out’ by the Chairperson.
Meanwhile, government-nominated Commissioner, Vincent Alexander, has reservations about the livestream. He said that he is still trying to understand how the activities in 10 recount stations will be streamed simultaneously. He is of the opinion that this might be an issue.
Nevertheless, Alexander, like Gunraj, said that all systems will be in place for Wednesday.
According to the order, the recount shall commence on Wednesday, 6 May 2020 and will proceed continuously each day, including weekends and holidays, from 08:00 to 19:00hrs, for the period of 25 days, which period will be subject to a review by the Commission during the course of the first week of the recount.
Meanwhile, the measures that were put in place to facilitate the presence of political parties to watch the containers containing ballot boxes, will be extended to the ACCC, Gunraj said. This means that those persons will be allowed to remain onsite to watch these containers as the recount is being undertaken.
