All arrangements in place for National Recount of votes in Guyana – GECOM

A CARICOM HIGH Level Team is now in Guyana to supervise the re-counting of ballots from that country’s March 2, 2020 Elections, but the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) says an agreement must be signed before the recount begins.

GECOM said in a release that it has completed all the preparatory arrangements for the commencement of the national recount exercise as agreed to by President David Granger and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo.

However, 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, the release said.

CARICOM Chairman, Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, on Saturday announced that Guyana’s President David Granger made a request for the Caribbean Community to field an Independent High-Level Team to supervise the recounting of the ballots in all Regions, and that this was agreed to by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo.

“I’ve spoken directly to both the President and Leader of the Opposition and they have both committed to abide by the results of a fair and transparent recount of each and every ballot, as supervised by the CARICOM Team,” the CARICOM Chairman said.

The recount exercise will be conducted at the Arthur Chung’s Conference Centre and a site visit was done on March 16 by GECOM, the CARICOM delegation

who will supervise the recount, the Guyana Police Force and representatives from the Ministry of Tourism.

The Independent High level team is chaired by the former Attorney-General and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Dominica Francine Baron, and comprise former Minister of Finance of Grenada Anthony Boatswain; Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government of UWI Cynthia Barrow- Giles; Chief Electoral Officer of Barbados Angela Taylor; and Chief Elections Officer of Trinidad and Tobago Fern Narcis-Scope.

GECOM said it is “resolute in ensuring that the process is conducted to the satisfaction of all stakeholders so that the electoral process can be concluded within the shortest possible time.”