A recount of the votes cast in the Golden Isles bye-election, held on Monday, was conducted on Tuesday. Representatives of the Parliamentary Registration Department, election officials and agents for the various candidates were in attendance for the statutory procedure.

On Monday it was announced that Darron Pickstock received 1,873, Brian Brown 1,636, Brian Rolle 348 and Karen Butler 16.

After the recount, Returning Officer, Neil Campbell confirmed that the preliminary numbers remained the same. However, it was found that two regular ballots were rejected while two rejected ballots were accepted.

Campbell told reporters that the recount process went smoothly. He said, “everybody was very amicable. The various camps they spoke, they made certain agreements, they made our job very much earlier today.

Senator Michela Barnett-Ellis represented the Free National Movement at the recount. She said, “we would have worked out, at the beginning of the day, how we were going to deal with the recount, which is a statutory obligation. And then throughout the day we engaged in dialogue in terms of proving the process and making it more efficient so that we could go through the ballots and certify the counts, then we can all move on.”

Member of Parliament elect for Golden Isles, Darron Pickstock was also on hand and agree that the process went smoothly. “We have to be so very proud of the men and women of law enforcement and we have to be very proud of our electoral process. I want to just say thank you to the Parliamentary Registration Department and the Commissioner for all that you did, for running a smooth process.”

The counted ballots were transferred to the Parliamentary Registration Department where the results will be made official, a writ will then be presented to the Governor General and the winner proclaimed.