Vote recount held up by aide memoire
-Jagdeo has signed, no word on Granger
At midnight tonight the 15 days provided for the declaration of results in the March 2, General and Regional Elections expires but Guyana is no closer to a new government.
A recount of all ballots cast during the two elections was expected to begin yesterday under the supervision of a High Level team from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), however up to press time the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) appeared to be waiting for an “aide memoire” signed between President David Granger and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo.
“While the Commission has considered the request in principle and has approved, a signed agreement between the Leaders and Caricom is essential in order for the process to be operationalized,” a statement issued at 3:20 pm explained.
Government-nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander in an interview published by the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) said that since President David Granger and the Opposition leader Bharrat Jagdeo are extra-GECOM bodies with no right of incursion into commission, the commission could not respond to an oral engagement with these parties.
“Today ended up being a day of preparation. It was anticipated we would’ve started today but there was some issue with a transmittal letter. GECOM required this letter as a precursor to starting the recount and I don’t think that letter was delivered and because of that GECOM did not go into the count,” he said adding that GECOM has to be careful that whatever it does will not provide an opportunity for litigation after so GECOM requested and insisted on formal documentation to show what it agreed to.
Stabroek News was unable to ascertain why this letter or “aide memoire” was not delivered to the commission or if the letter had even been signed by President Granger.
Executive member of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Anil Nandlall told reporters outside the convention centre last evening that Jagdeo had signed the one page letter since Sunday evening.
“It’s one page. I was able to read and advise the Opposition leader on the document in under five minutes,” he stressed explaining that it was a simply a summary of the public statement issued by CARICOM Chair Mia Mottley on Saturday.
On Saturday, Mottley announced that Granger had made a request for CARICOM to field a team to supervise the recounting of the ballots in all regions. Jagdeo had agreed to this move, which followed a contentious vote count for Region Four that resulted in allegations of fraud.
The high-level CARICOM team arrived in Guyana on Sunday and met with GECOM to fine-tune the modalities of the operation. This meeting was followed by a three-hour meeting of the Commission during which the Terms of Reference was finalized.
The Arthur Chung Convention Centre at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, was proposed by GECOM Chair retired justice Claudette Singh as the place of counting, and a site inspection by the commission and CARICOM team was conducted at 9 am yesterday.
It was expected that following this visit the counting would begin at least by
noon but this did not happen.
Nothing
Two of the three oppositionnominated commissioners, various party representatives and several media operatives turned up at the centre and waited but nothing happened.
The wait was broken just after 3 pm when GECOM public relations officer Yolanda Ward released a statement indicating that the commission was waiting on a signed agreement from the three parties.
Opposition-nominated Commissioner Sase Gunraj described this at dilatory tactics.
Speaking with media just before 1 pm he said that persons had been asked to evacuate the building to facilitate a security sweep and fumigation of the building.
“While we are all concerned about COVID-19 and are obligated to take precautions. The reality is that we have a nation that is waiting…I’m not sure which will kill us first COVID-19 or GECOM,” he joked.
The actual “fumigation” did not occur until about 6 pm by then three sets of containerised ballot boxes had arrived and the “fumigation” turned out to be unrelated to COVID-19 but rather aimed at reducing the population of the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
At 7 pm members of the Tactical Services Unit of the Guyana Police Force arrived on site “to secure the boxes” and order the compound cleared of all persons including agents and observers.
Opposition-nominated commissioner, Robeson Benn objected declaring that as a statutory member of the elections commission his right to be present could not be infringed by the GPF.
“After 15 minutes or so of trying to cajole me to leave they proceeded to brace me out of the position I was on the ramp of the convention centre. I refused to leave. I hopped around a bit and then they laid hands on me and tried to physically remove me…I held on to the rails and they dragged me along the ground to a point where I was lying on the ground. They said they were going to get a shield to put me on it and physically remove I kept refusing. I said I was a member of the GECOM and that they were here because of decisions made by the commission,” he explained.
According to Benn after a long discussion between him and CARCIOM Secretary General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque during which he remained lying on the ground his colleague Dr Frank Anthony was called upon to examine him.
“I have a problem in the shoulder now from the elbow going up. I have some muscular or tendon problem as a result of the issues with the police,” he said.
The commissioner departed the centre after talking with the media to visit the hospital and has indicated that he will likely be seeking legal redress through his lawyer, Nandlall.
Asked if he felt that his actions amounted to “refusing to comply with a lawful order”, Benn said no.
“To the extent that there was a decision of the commission there was no way they could remove me like that that…I said to them you can arrest me or do whatever you want with me but I was not leaving on my own volition given the issues relating to these ballot boxes,” he said.
He also explained that though he had been waiting since 10 am and had been informed that the recount would begin at 4pm it was unlikely that a count would be conducted yesterday.
“Apparently it will happen tomorrow,” he said.
Eventually one representative of each political party and observer group was allowed to re-enter the compound to guard the ballot boxes.
Benn explained that up to press time ballot boxes from Districts Three and Four were on site.
Last evening former Speaker of the National Assembly and ANUG candidate, Ralph Ramkarran questioned on what grounds the police had removed Benn and party agents from the site.
“The ballot boxes are in the lawful custody of the Elections Commission. On whose authority are the Police acting in ejecting party representatives and at least one member of the Elections Commission from the compound of the Arthur Chung Convention Centre”? he asked.
The conduct of the police in the post-election period has come under scrutiny and has been seen as heavy-handed and aiding the objectives of APNU+AFC.
Those counting will be required to examine two sets of ballots from 2339 polling stations. The largest number of these of stations are in Electoral District Four which has 879 polling stations while the smallest number is in District Eight where there are 55 polling stations.
In District One there were 99 polling stations, 135 polling stations were in District Two, 355 polling stations in District Three, 158 polling stations in District Five, 378 in District Six, 83 in District Seven, 73 in District Nine and 125 in District 10.
Notably according to Section 99 of the Representation of the People Act: as soon as practicable, but not later than fifteen days after election days the Commission shall publicly declare the results of the election and shall cause to be published in the Gazette a notification thereof.
This provision will not be complied with and it remains unclear how GECOM will handle the matter.