Since the recount of the votes for the 2 March 2020 general and regional elections commenced on 6 May, we have been tracking developments on a weekly basis as the exercise progressed. Now that the recount has been completed, it is time to evaluate the extent to which it has been successful.
Aide mémoire and recount Order
Following the controversy over the attempted declaration of the results of the elections on 13 March, the Chairperson of CARICOM brokered an agreement with the President and the Opposition Leader for a recount of all the votes cast ‘as a means of assuaging the contesting parties and determining a final credible count’.
In the aide mémoire, signed by the President and the Opposition Leader, both leaders committed themselves to honour the results of the recount which was to have commenced the following day in the presence of a CARICOM high-level team. However, an APNU+AFC regional candidate filed an application to stop the proposed recount, forcing the team to return home. The CARICOM Chair had cause to state that ‘[i]t is clear that there are forces that do not want to see the votes recounted for whatever reason. Any Government which is sworn in without a credible and fully transparent vote count process would lack legitimacy’.
