GCCI concerned with slow pace of Reg. 4 recount, urges for more stations to be added

See below full statement issued by the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry:

GCCI’s OBSERVATIONS ON THE NATIONAL RECOUNT EXERCISE

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce Industry (GCCI) has been an accredited Local Observer of the March 2nd, 2020 General and Regional Elections (GRE).

As a Local Observer, we have prepared this statement to brief our members and other stakeholders on the Recount Exercise. The Recount is proceeding smoothly at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), albeit not at the pace we would like to see, with 1124 ballot boxes counted as of Sunday, May 24, 2020.

Further, the staff of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) have displayed a high level of professionalism in carrying out their functions.

The GCCI’s main concern is the speed at which the District 4 count is proceeding. By our calculations, after 19 days, only 31% of District 4’s 879 ballot boxes have been completed, even though District 4 was allocated 3 stations from the start of the recount.

The GCCI is of the opinion that additional stations to the existing 12 should be put in place and these stations should be entirely devoted to District 4.

District 4 is the most populous electoral district and will require more resources in order to be completed within a reasonable timeframe.

Finally, the GCCI will make its preliminary Observation Report public for interested persons to view, which will lend to a better understanding of our advocacy positions.

From our observations, we can say that Election Day was smoothly executed, with a few minor hiccups during the day. The GCCI witnessed no material efforts to affect or tamper with the Election Results on Election Day.

Our concerns have always centered around the tabulation of District 4, which we observed, and we can attest to the fact that it was not done in a transparent manner.