Lowenfield to draft 2020 elections recount plan

Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield 

Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield has been given 48hours to draft a document intended to dictate the process of the nationwide recount of votes cast on March 02, 2020, National and Regional Elections in Guyana.

The timeline was given to him by the Guyana Elections Commission at a meeting on Monday to discuss the way forward with the process of a recount which was also agreed upon by the elections body.

Peoples National Congress Reform Gecom Commissioner Vincent Alexander noted that the decisions are taken by the commission centered around nine points which were developed from a ‘submitted document suggesting what needs to be done’

Peoples Progressive Party Civic Gecom Commissioner Sase Gunraj highlighted that the commission guided Lowenfield on the exact conduct of the recount procedure.

The Commission also discussed GECOM’s role in resolving disputes that may arise during the process, the reporting mechanisms from the process and the method to record the necessary results from the recount.

The PPP Commissioner told the press that he was confident that Lowenfield had received enough clarity and guidance to draft a plan by Wednesday which will operationalize the recount process as soon as possible.

Vincent Alexander, however, noted that it is the commission’s intention to re-invite the members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to observe and validate the entire process. In-fact, CARICOM will be the only body of observers that will be given some form of validation to the recount process he added.

Notwithstanding, however, CARICOM will not be supervising or overseeing the process due to the ruling of the Appeal Court’s decision on Sunday. That ruling found that the president’s decision to allow CARICOM to supervise the recount was illegal.

The APNU+AFC Coalition and the Peoples Progressive Party Civic have for one month been accusing each other of committing electoral fraud following the close of Poll on March 02, 2020.

The Guyanese electorate has been tense given that there was no official declaration of the results from the March polls which has ultimately hampered the swearing-in of a president and new government even as Guyana is among other countries in the world battling the deadly coronavirus.

Local and international observers of the elections have all agreed that Guyana would be entering unchartered waters a president or government is sworn in on the disputed tabulation process of District 4 which has a bearing on the overall results and outcome of the March elections.