Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Rtd) Claudette Singh, will render a decision on the approximate date on which General and Regional elections will take place at 10:00 am tomorrow.
This is according to Sase Gunraj, and Vincent Alexander, Opposition and Government-nominated GECOM Commissioners respectively, who spoke to media after a meeting today. Alexander is positing March next year while Gunraj is suggesting November. The final decision now rests with Singh.
The date will then have to be communicated to President David Granger who has said that he would comply with a GECOM finding on when elections should be held.
GECOM today issued the following press release
GECOM’s Chairperson to advise President Granger on GECOM’s readiness to conduct elections
18 September 2019, GEORGETOWN – Commissioners of the Guyana Elections Commission met again today for a continuation of its statutory meeting held on Tuesday, 17th September, 2019.
After much deliberations, at the meeting on Tuesday, it was agreed that Commissioners Charles Corbin and Sase Gunraj submit separate schedules based on the proposals made during the meeting.
At today’s meeting Commissioner Gunraj did not make the submission as promised. While Commissioners Gunraj, Benn and Shadick insisted on a November 2019 date for the holding of elections, they submitted no complete workplan to assist the Commission to determine how it was possible to arrive at such a date.
A comprehensive workplan with timelines and considerations reflecting the discussions held on Tuesday was submitted by Commissioner Corbin.
Chairperson of the Commission, Justice Claudette Singh undertook to study the submission, consult with the Secretariat, and based on all the information available to her make a decision on the way forward.
Justice Singh will communicate this decision to the President in accordance with the mandate of the Commission tomorrow.
PRESS RELEASE by Opposition-appointed commissioners
The Public Relations Officer of GECOM, consistent with previous efforts to mislead the public, does the same regarding the outcome of the continued Statutory Meeting of 18 September, 2019.
The release seeks to blame Commissioner Sase Gunraj for not presenting a timeline for consideration at the said meeting.
On the contrary, it was communicated to that meeting that we considered the timelines for the holding of elections and deliberately did not present a proposal, particularly on the date earmarked for making a decision, because we did not want to get involved in a protracted debate that would have further delayed the decision-making process of the Commission.
In that regard, after considering timelines and determining that it was eminently possible to hold elections before the end of the year, we chose instead to reiterate that position to the Chairman and Commission, instead of making a formal proposal.
We note too that the Chairman had committed to both of the major political stakeholders that GECOM was working to achieve elections before the end of the year.
We have provided several timelines over the last nine months, which have only been debated without yielding any meaningful outcome.
All of these timelines, adjusted for time elapsed, clearly point to GECOM’s ability to hold credible elections long before the end of 2019.
Robeson Benn
Bibi Shadick
Sase Gunraj
Commissioners
GECOM
