GECOM may still take several days to declare final election results – official
… 72 -96 hours wait for the declaration of results is completely unsatisfactory and lead to bad arithmetic –Granger
By Kiana Wilburg, December 14, 2014, By KNews, Filed Under News, Source - Kaieteur News
Even in the era of technological advancements, an official from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) asserts that Guyana will still have to wait a few days for the declaration of the results of the upcoming polls.
Opposition Leader, David Granger
Opposition Leader David Granger and some of his members of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) recently met with a team from the Commission to gain a clear understanding of its preparedness for elections among other matters.
At the cordial meeting with the GECOM team, Granger said he told the officials that his coalition is concerned with the length of time it takes for the results to be revealed.
It is the APNU’s view he said, that with the modern means of communication, Statements of Poll can be photographed for example and sent to the required offices. Hence, “We feel we can have elections results by 6:00 am of the following day… certainly we don’t expect to have results after three or four days and still getting the arithmetic wrong as we have seen in 2011…we definitely must move away from the 72 and 96 hour wait for the declaration of results. That is completely unsatisfactory and leads to bad arithmetic.”
APNU’s Chief scrutinizer, Amna Ally agreed with the Opposition leader. “What we want to ensure is that we have accurate results and it is the results from the polling stations that will be declared because we were shafted on the last occasion. We were shafted big time. And so we are going to employ every bit of scrutiny to ensure that accuracy prevails.”
Meanwhile, a GECOM official in an interview with Kaieteur News said that the concerns of the Opposition with regard to the time for the announcement of results were duly noted. However, the Commission has no choice but to operate within the legal framework by which it is guided.
The representative made the point that the Commission faces certain difficulties and is allowed by the law to disclose the election results within a certain period.
Regarding Granger’s recommendation of taking digital photographs, the official that such is not provided for in the laws and cannot be adopted. The official said that the law is clear that the Commission must have the documents in its possession. “So indeed, we are faced with constraints and the law says the amount of time we have to declare the results and we have never gone over that,” the representative added.
The GECOM officer also noted that the 2011 elections saw much tension but prior to the holding of the polls it was recommended that the Commission practice disclosing preliminary results via the television media for example.
“We know people would be anxious for the results and it was recommended that we practice the declaration of the preliminary results. I don’t think we gave enough attention to that. It was also recommended that there be the declaration of results for the ten administrative districts on the television as well and it was agreed to. But it was not done and it’s like if it is almost done in secrecy. No explanation for this has since been given. It was suggested so that it would help to reduce some of the tension and have the public more aware of the results of the ten districts,” the official said.
This process the officer added would have enabled viewers to do their own tabulations and it even provides for transparency and helps to remove the impression of manipulation by the Commission.
Considering the statements by the official, one opposition politician said that it clearly gives the sense that the main reason why the proposal was not implemented is because “some officials have certain interests they want to protect. When you have certain persons working at the Commission you will see certain acts that show loyalty to the government and not to GECOM.”
In spite of the fact that it was not adhered to at the last elections, the official said that the recommendation will be made again for the upcoming polls.
Prior to the Head of State, Donald Ramotar announcing that he has decided to go to the polls, the joint opposition had been consistently accusing the government of misusing state assets, for example, government vehicles during its campaign activities.
But when Ramotar was asked to address these associations he told the media, “So what you want us to do… walk? You want the ministers to go and walk?”
Granger has since made a formal complaint about the PPP’s “provocative propaganda and unrepentant misuse of state resources during its current general elections campaign.”
Asked by Kaieteur News about the impression garnered from GECOM that it had any power to effectively solve such a problem, he said, “I did not get the impression that they had the power to do so but we felt they could use moral suasion.”
The GECOM official on the said matter remarked, “In India for example, the law speaks to how ministers can operate leading up to an elections but our laws are not that clear. Hence we are limited. You heard the President’s response…There is not much we can do.”
For the first time, political parties were asked at the 2011 elections to sign a code of conduct but the official did note that while this does not eliminate any feeling of fear during election mode, it certainly reduces it. The representative said that the recommendation for this to be enforced at the imminent elections will be made again.
According to the Report of the Commonwealth Observer Group on the 2011 the code voluntarily obligated the parties to reject the use of threats or violence during the election, avoid all illegal and corrupt practices, avoid personal attacks and slander, and avoid inciting unrest or hatred among other things.
Source - http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....on-results-official/