No evidence to prove some GECOM officials must be excluded from recount- Commissioner Alexander

Last Updated on Thursday, 23 April 2020, 18:16 by Denis Chabrol

Commissioner of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Vincent Alexander said one of his opposition-aligned counterparts on the seven-member body have not provided any evidence as grounds to exclude several officials from the recount of last month’s election votes.

“The disposition of some commissioners is ‘have you brought specific allegations against these commissioners?’. If there are no specific allegations against these officers, then there is no basis for it to be said they should not be involved in the exercise,” he said.

Alexander said 12 officers have been singled out for “baseless things” but the commission took no clear decision on their participation in the recount that could start in the coming days after the work-plan is finalised, an order to be gazetted is finished and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) team of  scrutineers arrives.

“We may not be prejudicial but  make an accusation. Let us deal with accusations. Don’t come and reel off a list of names and say these people shouldn’t be involved and seek to have the commission agree to that,” he said.

The Organisation of American States’ (OAS) election observer mission on April 15 publicly called for “the officials to be engaged in the recount are selected based on their impartiality and those who have displayed partisan behavior are excluded.”

The GECOM Commissioner said “no role has been defined” for Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo who has been accused of presiding over a flawed tabulation process for the votes cast in Demerara-Mahaica.

The opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has repeatedly cast doubt over the roles of the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield and the Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Roxanne Myers in ensuring the process is credible and transparent.