84 more ballot boxes recounted today

DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, May 26, 2020

The national recount of the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections continues with another 84 ballot boxes recounted at the end of today.

The count today included 19 ballot boxes from Region Three, 15 from Region Four, 21 from Region Six, 10 from Region Seven, 10 from Region Eight and nine from Region Nine.

The tabulation process saw the completion of 1,254 Statements of Recount (SOR) for the General Elections and 1,253 for the Regional.

With the 25-day timeline just four days away, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is yet to complete some 1,049 ballot boxes, the majority of which are from Region Four.

The Commission had indicated last week that it would be seeking guidance from the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) for the establishment of two additional workstations to aid in the speeding up of the process.

However, analysts had noted that even with these additions, it still would be impossible for the process to be completed within the timeframe.

The NCTF last week gave the go-ahead for two additional workstations, bringing the total numbers in operation to 12. It had raised concerns over the large number of persons operating at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) daily, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

GECOM had reported that more than 400 persons gather each day at the ACCC to participate in the national recount process.