The three-member CARICOM High-Level team for the Guyana elections vote recount arrived in Guyana this afternoon on a special chartered Trans Guyana flight, paving the way for the start of the recount process.
The members of the team are Senior UWI Lecturer Ms. Cynthia Barrow-Giles, Commissioner of the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission, John Jarvis and Supervisor of the Electoral Commission of St. Vincent, Sylvester King.
Ms. Barrow-Giles was a member of the High-Level Team which came to Guyana last March to participate in a scheduled recount which had to be aborted after an injunction was granted by the Court
The other members of that Team are unavailable for the present mission, CARICOM said.
Both Mr. Jarvis and Mr. King participated in the CARICOM Electoral Observer Mission for the Elections held on 2nd March 2020.
With the arrival of the team, the Guyana Elections Commission Chairperson, Justice Claudette Singh is expected to announce a date for the start of the recount.
The Elections Commission is expected to meet tomorrow with the CARICOM team for an initial briefing of the process.
Also on Saturday, the Elections Commission is expected to meet with the officials of the political parties and other stakeholders to walk them through the recount plan.
The order is also likely to be gazetted over the weekend.
In a statement before the team’s arrival today, CARICOM Chairperson, Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados issued a call on all concerned to ensure a credible and transparent recount process in order to provide legitimacy to any government, which would be sworn in as a result.
Prime Minister Mottley said the process must be completed without further delay.
The CARICOM Chair also offered thanks to the Government of Canada for providing assistance to facilitate the presence of the CARICOM team.
The Guyana Elections Commission has set itself a 25-day timeline for the completion of the recount.
The recount will be done using 10 workstations at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre. Political parties will be allowed agents at each station and two observers will also be allowed at each station along with the GECOM recount staff.
Eight of the workstations can have no more than 14 persons at any given time while the other two can have no more than 10 persons.
Over the few days, the Secretariat of the Elections Commission has been preparing for the recount. Staff members were being trained in the process.
The Chairperson of the Elections Commission has said she is eager to have the process completed.
Saturday will mark two months since Guyanese went to the polls for the General and Regional elections, with a final declaration still to be made.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login