CARICOM team in Guyana for recount

CARICOM’s independent high-level team has arrived in Guyana to supervise the re-counting of ballots from the country’s March 2 elections.

On Saturday, CARICOM’s chairman, Prime Minister Mia Mottley, of Barbados, announced that Guyana’s President David Granger made a request for the Caribbean Community to field an independent high-level team to supervise the recounting of ballots in all regions.

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo agreed to the recount by the Caricom team.

A statement from CARICOM’s secretariat on Sunday said the team is chaired by former attorney-general and minister of foreign affairs of Dominica Francine Baron, and comprise former finance minister of Grenada Anthony Boatswain; senior lecturer in the Department of Government of UWI Cynthia Barrow-Giles; chief electoral officer of Barbados Angela Taylor; and chief elections officer of TT Fern Narcis-Scope.

“I’ve spoken directly to both the President and Leader of the Opposition and they have both committed to abide by the results of a fair and transparent recount of each and every ballot, as supervised by the CARICOM Team,” Mottley said in the statement.

On Saturday, Guyana’s elections commission (GECOM) chairperson, Justice Claudette Singh, was quoted as saying she gave an undertaking to Chief Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire on Friday, during contempt proceedings, that she would facilitate the recounting of ballots for Region 4.

She said she requested a meeting of the commission Saturday and her commitment was “bolstered” by a request made by Granger, which was approved by Jagdeo, to have CARICOM’s team supervise the recount of all ten districts.

“I welcome this initiative and would assure everyone, that GECOM will cooperate fully with the process,” she said.

In making the announcement on Saturday, Mottley said the request was a “giant step in being able to determine the will of the Guyanese people in the Election of March 2, 2020. It will also allow the electoral process to regain the confidence of all locally, regionally and internationally,” she added.