CARICOM to supervise recount of district four ballots
Editor’s Note:
Subsequent to this article being published, Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARCIOM) Ambassador Irwin LaRocque has since clarified the original statement made by Chairman of CARCIOM and Prime Minister of Barbados, Hon. Mia Mottley – CARCIOM team to supervise Guyana elections recount.
His clarification reads as follows:
“The Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Honourable Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados has asked me to clarify her earlier statement: “CARICOM Team to supervise the Guyana Elections recount.”
For the avoidance of doubt, His Excellency President David Granger and Leader of the Opposition Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo had agreed to a recount of all Regions and not just Region 4. ”
–President Granger, Opposition leader agree to process
DPI, Guyana, Saturday, March 14, 2020
An independent high-level team from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will be supervising the recount of ballots for district four, which were cast at the March 2 General and Regional Elections.
This was disclosed by Chairman of CARICOM and Prime Minister of Barbados Hon. Mia Motley via a press statement.
The Chairman said that the request was made by His Excellency President David Granger this morning and has been agreed to by Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo.
PM Mottley is of the view that this is a major step that will allow for renewed confidence in Guyana’s electoral process.
“I have spoken directly to both the President and the Leader of the Opposition and they have both committed to abiding by the results of a fair and transparent recount of each and every ballot, as supervised by the CARICOM team. We also agreed that there need to be steps taken to secure the integrity of the ballot boxes until the Recount takes place,” the statement said.
The team will be chaired by Francine Baron, former Attorney General and Foreign Minister and comprise Anthony Boatswain, former Minister of Finance of Grenada and Cynthia Barrow-Giles, Senior Lecturer in Department of Government of the University of the West Indies. They will also be accompanied by the two Chief Election Officers from Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.
The release further stated that the recount will commence once the CARICOM team has arrived.
“I can confirm that all efforts are being made to have the team in Guyana as soon as possible. A further announcement will be made as to the exact details once the team is on the ground,” the CARICOM Chairman underscored.
On March 12, a high-level team of CARCIOM Prime Ministers met with the parties that contested the General and Regional Elections held on March 2 and several key stakeholders.
That team included CARICOM Chairman and Barbados Prime Minister, Hon, Mia Mottley and Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Grenada, Dr. Keith Mitchell, Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley and Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit.
President Granger in a recent interview, noted that one of the major outcomes of a meeting between himself, the delegation and the opposition leader was the agreement that GECOM) remains the constitutional body in the electoral process.
Last evening, the tabulation for district four was completed and saw the A Partnership for National Unity and AFC (APNU+AFC) winning both the General and Regional Elections and reclaiming government.