GEORGETOWN – The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) says the high-level Caribbean Community (CARICOM) team that will be overlooking the national recount of the votes cast in the disputed March 2 regional and general elections, will arrive here later on Friday, May 1.
GECOM public relations officer, Yolanda Ward, said that the CARICOM team, which was originally due here on Thursday, will include the senior lecturer at the Cave hill campus of University of the West Indies (UWI), Cynthia Barrow-Giles, the Commissioner of the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission, John Jarvis and the Supervisor of Electoral Commission of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Sylvester King.
GECOM said that the CARICOM team will be taking on the role of scrutineer and will serve as a “third party” during the recount process.
GECOM has not yet named the date for the recount, but had indicated earlier it was awaiting word of the CARICOM team’s readiness to travel to Georgetown before making any such announcement.
GECOM said that 80 staff members who will be part of the re-count process, participated in a one-day training exercise at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), where the recount will take place.
Both the ruling coalition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the main opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) have claimed victory in the election that was observed by teams from the national, regional and international community.
Meanwhile, the PPP/C said that it has no intention of seeking legal action to challenge the recount, but is expressing concerns about transparency in the process.
PPP/C general secretary, Bharat Jagdeo told reporters: “We are not challenging, we don’t have any intention of challenging a recount that we fought for. We continue to have grave concerns about its transparency.”
GECOM has set a 25-day timeline for the recount process. (CMC)