APNU+AFC Candidate and incumbent Attorney General, Senior Counsel Basil Williams, has issued a call on the Guyana Elections Commission to remain true to its gazetted recount order and all of its requirements.
With the recount process moving into stage 2 which is the completion of a report on the recount by the Chief Elections Officer, there have been political and legal arguments about how the Elections Commission could address complaints of alleged fraud uncovered during the recount.
In a statement today, Senior Counsel Williams reminded that the Recount Order is subsidiary legislation having been published in the Official Gazette and therefore a law of the land binding on GECOM and all political parties who contested the elections.
He explained that contrary to the views of some political commentators, the Elections Commission can resolve the issues surrounding discrepancies and anomalies that were uncovered including reports of votes allegedly being cast for persons who were out of the country on elections day and persons who are dead.
Williams position is that the process is not just about the recount of ballots but also about the credibility of the elections.
He said the order makes it clear that both the Chief Elections Officer and the Commission will have to assess the discrepancies that are revealed in the Observation Report forms from the recount.
Once that report is completed by the Chief Elections Officer, it will have to be presented to the Commission for it to study.
The CARICOM high-level team will also submit a report of its own. The review of the reports will ultimately lead to the declaration of the results by the Chairperson of the Commission.
Williams said it is incumbent on GECOM to “stay the course and be true to its Order and not be encouraged to turn its back on its own Order”.
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