GECOM decides June 16 for final “credible” elections results
DPI, Guyana, Friday, May 29, 2020
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) today said it will be ready to make a final declaration of the results of the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections by June 16, three days after the ongoing national recount of the ballots come to an end.
An addendum to the national recount to the May 4th Order, was today gazetted and published.
It states that the commission will give the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield on or before the new recount deadline to submit his report, containing the tabulation of the 10 electoral districts and the Observation Reports of each of those districts to the elections body.
GECOM Commissioner, Vincent Alexander
The amended order states “The commission shall, after deliberating on the report shall determine whether it will request the Chief Elections Officer to use the data compiled in accordance with paragraph 12 as the basis for the submission of a report under section 96 of the Representation of the People’s Act Chapter 1:03 provided that the Commission, shall no later than three days after receiving the report, make the declaration of the final credible count of the March 2 Elections.”
Commissioner Vincent Alexander said having received the reports, the commission will deliberate after which, the CEO will be advised to make a final submission. From the commission’s deliberation.
Alexander said Guyanese can expect concrete information about the content of the Observation Reports especially concerning migrants and dead persons voting and other anomalies already brought to the public.
The APNU+AFC’s objection to the dead and “out of jurisdiction” voters had led Commission Chair Justice (ret’d), Claudette Singh, to request the evidence for those assertions. The party said it has already submitted a number of death certificates to support its objections.
In the meantime, the Coalition has also provided information on persons whose names appeared to have voted at the elections, to the commission as well as the Chief Immigration Officer.
Depending on the return from the immigration department, the commission will make its pronouncement, Alexander said.
He stressed the importance of the credibility of the elections as is catered for in the recount order and reminded that the tabulation of the 10 electoral districts will also have to be taken in tandem with the Observation Reports.
The Commissioner also pronounced on the ongoing debate over the legality of accessing death certificates by persons unrelated to a deceased. He maintained that the documents are public and therefore have no legal issues attached.