The Guyana Elections Commission has not met in a year and its preparedness to host local Government elections is unknown. US Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot, has expressed her concern about the current standstill at GECOM, describing it as not being good for democracy.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Ambassador Theriot confirmed receiving a correspondence from the Leader of the Opposition on the impasse at the Elections Commission. She said the Opposition Leader’s concerns are valid and are being taken seriously.
“We take his concerns very seriously and we have all received that correspondence, all of the Diplomats that I know here in Guyana and we take it very seriously, his concerns are valid and they are something that we will look into absolutely. GECOM does need to move forward because the standstill that they are at now will prohibit regional elections, local elections from happening and that’s not good for democracy, so they are some really good points in there and we have heard that from other opposition leaders and other opposition members of parliament”, she said.
The Ambassador said she has been engaging GECOM on behalf of the American Government and will meet with the Commission sometime next week. She said the American Embassy will also engage the Opposition parties on their concerns.
The Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, retired Justice Claudette Singh, has not indicated any clear reason for her decision not to convene a meeting of the Commission.
The We Invest In Nationhood party, which now holds the majority of seats on the Opposition side of Parliament has been calling for the members of GECOM who were nominated by previous Opposition Leaders to resign and allow the Opposition Leader, Azruddin Mohamed, to nominate new members to the Commission.
The current GECOM Commissioners who were nominated by previous Opposition Leaders have refused to resign, and have indicated that while they were nominated by previous Opposition Leaders, they are now serving in a Constitutional position.
Mohamed has written to President Irfaan Ali twice on the issue.
He has nominated Attorneys Roysdale Forde, Siand Dhurjon and Damien DaSilva to serve as new GECOM Commissioners. All three are Mohamed’s own Attorneys in various matters, including his extradition case that is currently before the Court.
The President has ignored those letters.
Source: News Source Guyana
