Dear Editor,
I read with complete disbelief reports that the Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield stated it will take 156 days to count the votes cast in Guyana’s March 2nd elections. My immediate response was this must be a mistake. Hours later and with no retraction or correction, one can only conclude that in the latest edition of a Guyanese dictionary, this would be listed as a classic example of eyepass.
Or is it that GECOM is short staffed and so it will take this long to count the ballots? In which case, and presuming that the good officer is the only person counting the ballots, here would be the breakdown of his work day:
NUMBER OF BALLOTS 450,000 @10 SECS EACH = 4,500,000 SEC
/ 60 SECS = 75,000 MINUTES
/ 60 MINS = 1250 HOURS/
8HR DAY = 156.25 DAYS
A transparent and full recount this is not. It is high time and beyond time that Guyanese across race and political persuasion call this what it is: a blatant and crude attempt to subvert the March 2nd elections.
Yours faithfully,
Alissa Trotz
