Commissioners of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Sunday met and decided to ban party agents from using their cell phones to live stream activities at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) while at the counting stations where ballots cast at the March 2, General and Regional Elections are being recounted.
The Commission’s decision was related to media operatives encamped outside of ACCC by GECOM Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward, who noted that the deliberations were had as a result of complaints lodged.
It was explained that party agents will now only be able to take photographs of the ballot boxes before they are opened to be recounted and the completed Statements of Recount (SoRs), generated from a recount of each of the ballot boxes.
Speaking with media operatives, Ward said, “what the Commission decided on is that the use of cell phones particularly as it relates to the counting exercise will not be for any sort of streaming purposes but only to take photograph of the ballot box when it arrives in the work station.”
She explained that this provision is meant to satisfy the agents that the seals are intact “and for their own records as well.”
She said this would be in addition to being allowed to take photographs of the completed SoRs that is produced at the end of the count.
“Those are the two things that the Commission decided on as it relates to the use of cell phones,” according to Ward.
