GECOM to provide clarity on tabulation of recount

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) will be meeting later Thursday to discuss and subsequently provide clarity on the tabulation of the Statements of Recount (SORs).

According to the gazetted order which governs the recount process, tabulation is to be done at the completion of each district, however, on the first day of the recount, with only 25 ballot boxes completed and all 10 districts remaining incomplete, tabulation had commenced.

Some tabulation agents were baffled on Thursday when the process did not continue. This prompted calls for the tabulation process to be an ongoing exercise.

GECOM’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) Yolanda Ward has since said that while the process did commence yesterday, there were some technical issues that needed to be resolved.

She said the process that commenced yesterday “from my understanding it was more of a demonstration since there was no clear directions from the Commission, since the order says at the end of each region and parties were proposing a continuous system.”

According to Ward, following a meeting of the Commission later Thursday, clarity will be provided on the way forward.

“It means therefore whatever the Commission decides at the meeting will guide how the tabulation moves ahead,” Ward added.

According to the order, tabulation of the Statements of Recount will be done at a central tabulation center in the presence of the CARICOM scrutinising team, representatives of political parties, international and local observers and advisors to the Guyana Elections Commission.

The Statement of Recount is to be projected on a screen to be viewed by all persons present and the information shall be input into a matrix, which process could be viewed simultaneously by all persons present.

The entire tabulation has to be broadcast live, according to the order.

Upon completion of the input of all Statements of Recount for an entire electoral district, the supervisor for tabulation shall ascertain and verify the entries therein and calculate totals for each column therein.

This ascertained and verified copy of the matrix shall be signed by the District Coordinator for the District and by the designated representative of each contesting party present, in the presence of the CARICOM scrutinising team, representatives of political parties, International and Local Observers and advisors to the Guyana Elections Commission.