The recount of the ballots cast in Sub-District 4 (East Coast of Demerara) for Region Four is progressing well, according to GECOM Commissioner Clement Rohee.
Another Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, said so far, nothing has changed in the figures.
“After an entire morning of counting at the request of APNU, nothing has changed significantly, except the frustration of this nation. This is a wanton waste of time,” Gunraj noted in a social media post.
The recount was requested by the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and approved by GECOM. It commenced today at GECOM’s Barrack Street location in Georgetown.
A total of 25 workstations have been established to process the 395 ballot boxes. Representatives of political parties and observers are present during this exercise.
“The recount exercise will proceed uninterrupted until completion,” GECOM assured in a statement on Wednesday.
Results from Monday’s elections for all ten voting districts across the country have been declared.
Based on the declared results, the PPP/C has won the elections. More specifically, the party won Region Four – earning almost twice as much votes as the APNU. In the general elections, the PPP/C got a remarkable 87,536 votes while in the regional, it secured 87,018. For the APNU – which traditionally controlled the region – it earned 46,956 in the general elections and 46,772 in the regional.
But APNU claims that these results are “implausible”.
GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj has opined that while a political party is entitled to a recount, APNU is just delaying the inevitable.
“Elections were conducted on Monday in the almost, as far as I am aware, in the 2790 polling stations, all of the parties had a representative. The PPP had representatives, the PNC had, well the PNC or whatever they are now called, had representatives. Other parties were represented. Those party representatives participated in the process, signed off on those Statements of Poll which represents the election result of every one of those polling stations. It is those Statements of Poll that were tabulated to form the result of the district and then by extension the entire country. To come now, to come now after you are dissatisfied with the results and the dissatisfaction, I rather suspect and if I can, if I can hazard a guess, it’s not really with the process,” Gunraj explained.
He emphasised that, “they are dissatisfied with their performance and now that dissatisfaction, there’s an attempt to translate it to a problem with the process and that, that is what I have a difficulty with…I mean you’re entitled to the recount by law. The recount is granted but holding back, delaying the inevitable is just sad.”
Gunraj expressed hope that good sense prevails. “…as I said before the elections, let us all accept the results. It was a very, very properly executed process and move on with our lives, and move on with our lives,” he noted.
The GECOM Commissioner also lauded the Elections Secretariat for its efficiency in the conduct of this year’s elections.
“I want to congratulate the Secretariat of the Elections Commission for the manner in which the polls were conducted very efficiently. And I also want to make the point that as at yesterday afternoon, that is Wednesday afternoon, all the declarations were made. That put us in a position to be able to make a final declaration today, that is to say Thursday. In all the elections in which I have participated, that is the earliest that the Commission was able to do that,” he reasoned.
Gunraj further explained that if there was no recount, then the Chief Elections Officer has a statutory duty to tabulate all of the 10 district declarations into a report which includes “the calculation of the seats for the National Assembly, seats for each of the regional democratic councils, 10 across the country, and present that report to the commission for its consideration. And then a declaration is made for the, first, of the presidents, and secondly, of the seats in the National Assembly.”
Once the ongoing recount exercise is completed, the CEO will proceed with the execution of his duty.
Up to the time of publication of this article, no other recount requests have been approved by GECOM.
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