Ballot boxes moved without notice from Arthur Chung centre to GECOM HQ
-party representatives riled
One day after political parties called for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to facilitate the security of the ballots cast on March 2, 2020 by ensuring all were stored at a central location, the secretariat has relocated the containers with the ballot boxes from the Arthur Chung Convention Centre to its High and Cowan streets office.
The action was however executed without notice to the contesting parties and questions to GECOM on the matter have been met with silence. It is also unclear what provisions have been made to enable political parties to be assured of the security of the containers, which are seen as pivotal in settling the outcome of the elections
On Thursday, six of the eleven parties—-PPP/C, ANUG, LJP, TCI, URP, CG, and TNM—which contested the General and Regional Elections issued a joint statement in which they lamented the fact that the container with Region Six ballot boxes and the container with the Region 4 East Coast ballot boxes were not stored at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre in Liliendaal, where all the other containers for the other regions and subregions were stored.
“We urgently request that this irregularity be corrected immediately,” the parties stated, before adding that it is of paramount importance that the security of the containers containing the voting ballots be preserved and this is best achieved by all containers being stored at a central location.
GECOM did not publicly acknowledge the statement but just after 1 pm yesterday those agents who had been “guarding the ballot boxes” at the convention centre reported that efforts were being made to remove them from the location.
Stabroek News arrived at 2 pm while the first set of containers were leaving the compound and spoke with People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Party Agent Juan Edghill.
According to Edghill, two trucks showed up and proceeded to move the containers even as he and other agents objected.
He stressed that at no point was he or any other stakeholder notified of a decision to move ballot boxes and explained that when contact was made with Opposition-nominated Commissioner Robeson Benn he indicated that no such decision was made at the level of the commission.
Asked if the action could likely be a response to the request made on Thursday, Edghill said yes but reiterated that communicating such a decision to stakeholders was essential.
“Even if there is a response there must be communication…you cannot be this high-handed,” he said.
Speaking at GECOM, PPP/C Presidential Candidate Irfaan Ali reiterated that no political party had been informed of the action.
“All we knew is that two trucks turned up picked up the containers and we followed the containers and here we are. We are told by one of the workers that all of the containers are coming here,” he told reporters.
According to Ali, the boxes remain the “last hope for Guyana’s democracy and we can’t have them being moved like this without stakeholders being informed.”
He noted that since “all political parties” don’t have agents who can be
inside the GECOM compound the agents who had been camping at the convention centre were likely to relocate to Cowan Street to “ensure the integrity of the containers”.
A representative of The Citizenship Initiative (TCI), Nyall Jodhan, however told media that the same arrangement which had been in place at the conference centre would be in place at the GECOM head office.
“One party rep to oversee and keep a vigil; an eye on the containers,” he said while also criticizing the manner in which GECOM executed the move. This information was also confirmed by Kian
Jabour of A New and United Guyana (ANUG).
“This is our future…we need to have communication and we are not having that,” Jodhan lamented.
The containers with the ballot boxes had been moved to the convention centre on Monday following an agreement between President David Granger, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to have a national recount conducted under the supervision of a high level team from the Region.
On Saturday, CARICOM Chair, Barbadian Prime Minister Mia 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 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 on Monday.
It was expected that following this visit the counting would begin at least by noon but this did not happen.
Instead the matter was delayed while the commission examined a legal opinion from the Chief Parliamentary Counsel who had concluded that such a recount would violate the laws of Guyana specifically Section 84 of the Representation of the People Act.
Before the commission could decide whether to accept or disregard this advice, Justice Franklyn Holder had granted an interim injunction to APNU+AFC candidate Ulita Moore barring GECOM from performing a recount.