By Indranie Deolall
The Mesoamerican Long Count is an ancient, non-repeating calendar used by some pre-Columbian peoples, including the Mayans.
Applying a tally that is vigesimal or centred on 20, rather than the pervading decimal system of ten that is still the international standard, the Long Count identified time by calculating the number of days that elapsed since a mythical creation date, generally corresponding to August 11, 3114 BCE or over 5000 years ago.
Left on stelae discovered in Central America, the calendar was built around a sophisticated mathematics system that may have started from merely counting on fingers and toes. The numerals consisted of only three symbols, crucially zero, represented as a shell shape; one, a dot; and five, a bar. Mesoamericans developed zero independently, working with sums up to the hundreds of millions. There is evidence of dates that are so extended and complex, they took several columns to record.
Despite the absence of the fraction concept, the Mayan civilisation made amazingly accurate astronomical observations being able to measure the length of the solar year as 365.242 days, compared to the modern value of 365.242198, and the duration of the lunar month with their estimate of 29.5308 days, as against the modern value of 29.53059.
Guyana’s torturous version of the long-awaited recount finally set off, in audio livestream at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, but at a snail’s pace yesterday, two hours after the scheduled start time and more than two months after the March 2, 2020 general and regional elections. Some 400 000 ballots cast by voters across all ten Regions including the disputed and prized Region Four are to be rechecked by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) over a gazetted period of an initial 25 days under the optimistic eyes of local, diplomatic and a second team of three CARICOM observers, in addition to riveted nationals at home and the diaspora.
In early March last, more than 2300 teams had counted the votes and tallied the amounts in what seemed a straightforward enough operation. But days later, doctored spreadsheets, dodgy flash drives, and desperate departures from established procedures by key GECOM officers popped up, propelling our fledgling democracy into a deepening political crisis, compounded by credibility issues and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Around half of the Statements of Poll (SOPs) for Region Four had been processed at that stage, so the strange spreadsheet numbers did not match that in the possession of the various protesting parties, yet a declaration was made by the Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo in favour of the ruling APNU+AFC. In spite of legal rulings that his action was unlawful and should comply with a transparent process based on the SOPs, a second declaration was made days later, prompting widespread condemnation and calls for a Region Four recount.
The respected Atlanta-based Carter Center, which has observed all of Guyana’s elections since its lead role in the country’s pivotal return to free and fair polls in 1992, is still awaiting Government permission to return. In its statement on March 20, announcing the team’s departure, the non-partisan Center cited as its reasons, the absence of an ongoing electoral process, increasing restrictions on international travel because of COVID-19, and the decline in the country’s security environment.
It found that “Tabulation was well-conducted in nine of ten regions. In Region 4 – by far the largest region – the credibility of the tabulation process deteriorated when, after some delay, results were announced before the region’s full results were transparently tabulated in the presence of party scrutineers and observers,” asserting that the Center and other international election observation groups “denounced these results as not credible.”
“The Center remains committed to promoting democracy and constitutional reform in Guyana and is willing to return when the electoral process resumes, assuming international travel is feasible,” it had said, expressing the hope that “the electoral process can still be concluded with credible results and that the will of the Guyanese people – as expressed at the polls on March 2 – will be carried out.”
This week, the Center reiterated that it “remains committed to providing an independent observation of Guyana’s electoral process, including the upcoming recount” disclosing it “deployed an observer to Miami who was prepared to travel to Georgetown today (May 4), but unfortunately, his flight was denied approval to carry international election observers. The Carter Center continues to reach out to government officials to understand what is required to allow Center staff to return to Guyana to observe the recount process.”
On Wednesday, there were mounting concerns about the recount process including by Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) leader Lenox Shuman and Josh Kanhai of The New Movement party. Kanhai wrote, “Closing up our 2nd box for region 4 in work/count station 9. Took about 3hrs to do a box though,” while Shuman shared a video of an APNU operative in vocal performance, questioning why she was allowed in given her infamous display at GECOM in March.
Executive and Founding Member of the Citizenship Initiative, (TCI) Shazaam Ally posted: “In the end, observing and tabulating the recount of ballot box number 4193 of polling division 413411 A, I must say that the process is very transparent and the results so far are credible. Each ballot paper is projected on a large television and all observers and tally agents can individually tally the votes. All ballot papers are examined with a UV light to see the security features. All tabulations are compared at the end. Every party agent present in the room gets to sign off on the Statement of Recount (SoR) and handed a copy. Kudos to GECOM.”
With at least 23 more days to go and many possible scenarios, following the long wait, we can but hope that all feel the same way at the end of the very long count.
ID agrees with the view of President Abraham Lincoln: “Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”
