Guyana Elections 2020

A total of 71 ballot boxes were recounted yesterday at the conclusion of day 15 of the national recount and as GECOM seeks to further accelerate the process, Chairperson, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh intends to ask the national COVID-19 task force for two more work stations.

After adding two workstations, the Guyana Elections Commission was yesterday able to raise its daily total for recounted ballot boxes to 76.

At the end of more than half of the 25 days assign-ed to the National Recount, the Guyana Elections Commission has completed the processing of 642 ballot boxes, a mere 27% of the 2,339 boxes from the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections (GRE).

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has claimed that there is  “deliberate sloth” in the recounting of District Four ballots and suggested that a recently promoted work station supervisor is acting in concert with the incumbent to further slow that process.

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Indus-try (GCCI) yesterday said it is disappointed to learn that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) took a decision to increase the number of workstations for the recount exercise to only 12 from the 10 that are currently in place.

Sixty ballot boxes from the March 2nd general elections were recounted yesterday – the highest daily total since the exercise started 12 days ago – and the tabulated result for District One was signed off by all parties even as GECOM continues to wait for the COVID-19 task force to approve more work stations to speed the process up.

President David Granger yesterday said that his APNU+AFC government will accept the Guyana Elections Commission’s declaration of the result of the March 2nd General and Regional Elections.

A protest on Saturday morning by the PPP/C outside of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs calling for the return of Carter Center observers was dispersed by the police who cited the emergency ministerial order on COVID-19 measures.

Day eight of the national recount process concluded yesterday with another 56 ballot boxes being processed – the highest number to be completed in a day since the process started – bringing the total number of boxes counted so far to 367 of the 2,339.

Saying that he “has never seen a more transparent effort to alter the results of an election,” Head of the OAS observer mission to Guyana’s March 2nd elections, Bruce Golding, yesterday reported that the ongoing recount process has exposed glaring instances where the figures presented by Returning Officer of Region Four, Clairmont Mingo, were clearly fiddled.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and a number of his colleagues have written President David Granger commending the start of the vote-recount process for Guyana’s disputed March 2nd Presidential election and urging him to permit additional observers to the process.

Barbados Ambassador Noel Lynch yesterday told the Permanent Council of the OAS that irregularities in the March 2nd general elections occurred in the count of votes and not in the system and he vowed that CARICOM will see the ongoing recount through to a credible conclusion as it will not abide the erosion of democracy in the community.

Yesterday, the National Recount completed its seventh day by processing 48 ballot boxes taking the one-week total to 311 or 13% of the 2,339 boxes generated on polling day.

Following a review of the recount process, the Guyana Elections Com-mission (GECOM) yesterday decided to approach the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) for advice on increasing both the number of work stations and the working hours for the National Recount.

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is slowly increasing the number of ballot boxes it processes daily in the National Recount of votes from the March 2nd general elections.

Executive Member of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Anil Nandlall has released a letter he wrote to Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), retired Justice Claudette Singh, formally complaining about the results declared for Region Four by Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo.

In what marks a major shift of its position on the March 2nd general elections, the APNU+AFC coalition yesterday alleged that  “clear and unmistakable patterns of irregularities, discrepancies and worse have emerged” following day five of the national recount of votes.

With no major hiccups, ballots from a total of 51 boxes were recounted yesterday on day five of the  national recount from the March 2 General and Regional Elections.

The votes from another 48 ballot boxes were tallied yesterday when the national recount entered its fourth day, bringing the grand total for the process to 156 of the 2,339 boxes generated from the March 2 general and regional polls.

Forty-three ballot boxes from the March 2nd general elections were recounted yesterday, bringing the three-day tally to 108 of 2339 boxes and upping the pressure on GECOM to decide how to quicken the process that has been slowed by numerous queries from the incumbent APNU+AFC.