by: Denis Chabrol
Guyana (Demerara Waves) – Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon on Friday lampooned the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Retired Justice Claudette Singh for voting with the pro-People’s Progressive Party (PPP) election commissioners to appoint Vishnu Persaud as Chief Election Officer.
“The Chairman of GECOM yet again shifted the goal post and changed the rules of the game to suit the People’s Progressive Party,” Mr. Harmon said in a video release to the media.
Pro-opposition Elections Commissioner Vincent Alexander also added that picking Mr. Persaud could not be properly justified by the Chairman. “Culmination of a flawed process. The chair’s slip is showing. How could Surujbally testimonial be a major plank of her basis,” Mr. Alexander told Demerara Waves Online News.
Justice Singh has justified her decision to endorse Mr. Persaud instead of Jamaican former election official, Leslie Harrow, on the basis of an endorsement letter by former GECOM Chairman Dr. Steve Surujbally and Mr. Persaud’s 17-year long experience including service as Public Relations Officer, Deputy Chief Election Officer and acting Chief Election Officer.
But Mr. Harmon strongly suggested that the incumbent GECOM Chairman could not be trusted. “The Chairman of GECOM has shown that she cannot be impartial and is willing to continue to use her position to further place the entire GECOM into a tenuous position,” he said.
