The Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission, Justice Claudette Singh halted the tabulation process for the Region Four votes earlier today following protests by some about the Returning Officer returning to the process with the spreadsheet process.

News Source has been told that the GECOM Chair has said that she wants to read the written judgement that was handed down by the Chief Justice yesterday on the issue.

Chief Justice Roxanne George nullified the earlier declaration by the Returning Officer yesterday, ruling that his declaration was unlawful. She ordered a return to the process but made it clear that it will be the Returning Officer who will be in charge of the process and who will decide on the method or type of process to be used for tabulation.

“It would be for the Returning Officer, and or the Deputy Returning Officer to decide whether in the interest of transparency the addition process should be restarted or continued from where it was left off. It would also be for these functionaries to determine the best method of tabulating the Statements of Poll. Again, it cannot be for the persons present to indicate how this should be conducted. So, I want to emphasize, that everybody else who think they can have an input or a say, it is not their statutory duty”, the Chief Justice ruled yesterday.

This morning at the Returning Officer’s office, the Returning Officer made a decision to continue the process using the spreadsheet process from where the process was halted last week during the initial tabulation.

While there was no issue with him continuing the process, a number of persons including PPP nominated GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj raised an objection to the use of the spreadsheet.

On his Facebook page, Mr. Gunraj said that after sending for the Statements of Poll and receiving a few, the Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo made it clear that he would be using the spreadsheet process.

“He is now refusing to entertain objections to the process. He insists that he will proceed and if anyone has queries they should note them”, Gunraj wrote.

The Chief Elections Officer and the Deputy Chief Elections Officer were among the observers to the process.

With the process now halted, the GECOM Chair, Justice Claudette Singh, has made it clear that she will go through the written judgement of the Court. The suspension of the process is likely to remain in place until she completes her perusal of the statement.

The spreadsheet process was used in eight of the other nine electoral districts.

Related posts:

GECOM Asst. Registration Officer testified of being instructed to use spreadsheet for Region 4 tabulation GECOM to provide clear directions on recount tabulation; Order caters for tabulation at end of each region Mingo’s tabulation process not credible, transparent or inclusive -Commonwealth Observer Mission Tensions flare as Region 4 tabulation moved to GECOM Headquarters