With the counting of only 25 ballot boxes completed at the end of day one of the national vote recount exercise, party agents were Thursday morning hopeful that a more substantial amount of counting would be done as the process moves along and momentum is increased.
The News Room spoke with several party representatives as they made their way into the highly guarded Arthur Chung Conference Center were the recount exercise for votes cast at the March 02, 2020 elections are underway.
Presidential Candidate for the Citizenship Initiative Rhonda Lam was the first to say how hopeful she was that the process would move faster along.
She noted her compromise for the “teething problems” encountered on Wednesday but said she doesn’t expect the recurrence of those issues today.
She also noted that there is some tabulation work to be done and expects too that the tabulation process will be faster, allowing for a preliminary count to be disseminated to the public.
“Those are the expectations for today, reality may be a different thing but I’m always an optimistic person and this is my hope as we head into today’s sessions,” she said.
There are over 2000 ballot boxes to be counted within a 25-day deadline and persons are fearful that if the pace is not increased, the process could be inevitably extended way beyond the deadline.
Dr Vishnu Bandu from Republican United Party also spoke to the News Room and noted that he feels much comfortable than yesterday.
He too doesn’t expect to see the same objections recurring since there is largely no change in staffing.
Meanwhile, APNU+AFC coalition candidate Simona Broomes joined her political colleagues in expressing confidence in the process with high expectations that it will move along with much more alacrity. She said she expects a smooth process today.
She was keen to point out that she doesn’t believe the process is being intentionally stymied.
To this end, Broomes said she understands that the process is unavoidably tedious.
“Its simple things and GECOM is moving ahead with its work… we just have to pay attention,” she added.
There are ten recount stations; the recount started with districts 1, 2, 3 and 4.
