Jagdeo wants Region Four ballots to be recounted
-informs CARICOM
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday told a delegation of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders that he prefers that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) recount the ballots for Region Four following a disputed result that saw both major parties claiming victory.
Jagdeo, following a meeting with the delegation, which included CARICOM Secretary General Irwin La Rocque, Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley – who is also the current chair of CARICOM – and prime ministers Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and the Grenadines; Dr Keith Mitchell of Grenada; Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica; and Dr Keith Rowley of Trinidad and Tobago; told reporters last evening that he believes that GECOM will today use contaminated Statements of Poll (SoP) for its verification process.
“CARICOM can help to ensure that there is proper verification. As provided for in our laws, they have two elements - the SOPs and the recount,” Jagdeo said. “The recount has always been part of our law; some of the leaders of CARICOM were asking ‘what is the big deal?’ That is how you end it all. What is this big deal about not allowing a recount, when the law says that and that is how you end the controversy?” Jagdeo said. He emphasised that the matter can be laid to rest definitively “by going to the ballot boxes and recounting them in front of everyone.”
Led by Mottley, the CARICOM group arrived here around noon yesterday for a two-day visit, intended to ease tensions in the country following last week’s disputed polls and to help broker a resolution to the political impasse.
The delegation met with Granger at the Ministry of the Presidency, Jagdeo at his Church Street Office, and late last night also held a meeting with 10 persons representing the People’s Republic Party, A New and United Guyana (ANUG), The Citizenship Initiative (TCI), the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) and The New Movement (TNM) at the CARICOM Secretariat.
“We are conscious that the court has ruled and that the process has to be continued. We do not want to see the loss of life, damage to property or injuries,” Mottley said, last evening, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of the Presidency.
For his part, Rowley told Stabroek News that he was optimistic. “It is a process that is ongoing and we are optimistic that all will go well,” he said. Other leaders smiled and some extended courtesies to the press.
Mottley’s office has said that the delegation will not only meet with politicians but with representatives of the Commonwealth, the Organization of American States, the European Union and the Carter Center observer missions, that are in the country to monitor the March 2 general and regional elections. It is unclear if the meeting with the observers was held last evening or will be done before today’s scheduled 10am press conference by the CARICOM leaders.
The group will leave this country sometime after noon today but this newspaper understands that they will at no time visit the GECOM office or speak with any of the representatives of that constitutional body.
Mottley had last Saturday called on GECOM officials and the political leadership to work together to ensure that the tabulation of the results from last week Monday’s polling is done according to the law in order for a peaceful and legal completion of the process.
“…All parties must work hard to ensure that there is peace on the roads and in the communities across Guyana. There has already been one death
reported overnight. That is one death too many,” she added, in reference to the fatal shooting of a Berbice youth, who the police force said was attacking two of its ranks with a cutlass.
She had also noted earlier pronouncements by both CARICOM and the CARICOM electoral observation mission, for GECOM to complete the electoral process, in wake of the interruption of the tabulation of the results for Region Four, which will decide whether the incumbent APNU+AFC or the opposition PPP/C has won the presidency. GECOM released results for the region on Thursday although the process was not completed.
The Chief Justice yesterday voided the declaration of results made by the Region Four Returning Officer and ordered that a full verification of the results be done.
Last Friday, the head of the CARICOM Electoral Observation Mission, Cynthia Combie-Martyr, said that the mission accepted that the tabulation process, which commenced on Wednesday, using the SOPs and which was in accord with the law, was interrupted and remains incomplete.
Furthermore, she said it was evident that the transparent tabulation of results for the region must be resumed under the independent control of the Returning Officer, as these scores are necessary and critical in order to determine the outcome of the national polling.
‘Compromised’
Mottley had previously acknowledged the serious allegations being made by all sides against each other and she said that CARICOM was asking the parties to recognise that the primary consideration must not only be who will be president but, rather, who will be alive come next week or next month “for there cannot be a tolerance for any further loss of life.”
After speaking with both Granger and Jagdeo at the time, Mottley said she indicated that CARICOM stands ready to be able to be there to facilitate further dialogue and any actions that are necessary.
From left are Grenadian Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, CARICOM Secretary General Irwin La Rocque, Trinidadian Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and CARICOM Chair and Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
Jagdeo said that he welcomed the delegation’s visit yesterday and expressed to them that the SOPs could have been contaminated and he would prefer ballot counting.
“We expressed fears that the SOPs, the chain of
custody has been broken and there is a chain of custody that was zealously guarded but since the stopping of the process, those documents have been with some GECOM staff and the RO [Returning Officer] and they are the same ones