Order for national recount gazetted

—audio feed for recount process, tabulation to be live streamed

DPI, Guyana, Monday, May 4, 2020

The Order for the national recount of the March 2nd, General and Regional Elections has been gazetted, Public Relations Officer of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Yolanda Ward confirmed.

Details of the order state that the process shall be undertaken, executed and supervised by the Guyana Elections Commission and will be scrutinised by a CARICOM team appointed by the Chairman of CARICOM and Prime Minister of Barbados Hon.  Mia Mottley.

The recount set to commence on Wednesday, March 5, at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), will be conducted by employees of the Guyana Elections Commission, under the direct supervision of the Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield and will see the participation of representatives of political parties,  the CARICOM Scrutinising Team, International and Local Observers accredited by the Guyana Elections Commission, and advisors to the Guyana Elections Commission, along with members of the Commission.

The recount will commence with the allocation of ten workstations as follows: District 1 – two workstations; District 2 – two workstations; District 3 – three workstations and District 4 – three workstations.  The recount for District 4 shall continue at the three (3) workstations assigned to it. The recounts for Districts 5 through 10 will be conducted based on the completion of, and at the workstations assigned to, Districts 1, 2 and 3, the Order states.

Regarding the live streaming of the process, facilities will be established at each workstation to capture and broadcast a picture of the ballot boxes depicting the state in which they are delivered to the workstation, an audio feed of the recount process will also be broadcasted; while an audio-video facility in the tabulation centre will broadcast live the entire tabulation process.

The Order states that the result of the general and regional recount of each ballot box shall be recorded as provided for on a Statement of Recount on the completion of the recount of each box.

On the completion of the input of all Statements of Recount for an entire electoral district, the supervisor for tabulation will ascertain and verify the entries and calculate totals for each column in the presence of the CARICOM scrutinising team, representatives of political parties that contested the said elections, International and Local Observers and advisors to the Guyana Elections Commission.

Commissioner Vincent Alexander said he still has questions about the capability of the commission to broadcast ten workstations at any one time, simultaneously.

He said it has been made clear too that no individual shall photograph or take videos of the process.  Persons will not be allowed to use their devices in the centre during the process.

Meanwhile, questions were raised about the international observers still to come to Guyana. Alexander said as far as the commission is aware, the accreditation of all observers remains in place since the electoral process is not yet completed.

Below is the full Order as Gazetted today.

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