It is alleged that several party agents during Day One of the recount of the votes cast in the March 2 General and Regional Elections yesterday, were sharing videos of what was transpiring at the workstation where the actual recount is occurring. This, among other issues, prompted the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to meet briefly to find remedies to these matters.
According to GECOM’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Yolanda Ward, the Commission was able to arrive at some decisions.
As it relates to the sharing of videos, and livestreaming of the process, she said: “As you would have seen on Social Media, some persons in the room at the respective workstations, circulated videos on social media, as to what is happening at the workstations. This was not permitted by the Commission. All those persons at the count were informed of this, and so the decision of the Commission is that henceforth, people will be cautioned to desist from such a practice, and if they are found to be doing so, they will be escorted from the respective workstation,” Ward said.
GECOM has continuously said that the privacy of voters must be maintained, and visual streaming of the process being undertaken at the workstations could undermine voter confidentiality.
GECOM is streaming only the audio of the recount proceedings via its website, as well as its Facebook, and YouTube pages. Only the tabulation of the Statement of Recount, is being livestreamed visually and audibly.
