The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is now close to appointing a new Chief Election Officer (CEO) after deciding yesterday that only two candidates: Jamaican Leslie Harrow and Guyanese Vishnu Persaud will be interviewed for the post.
The post became vacant on August 12, 2021, after the contract of former CEO Keith Lowenfield was terminated. He faces a series of charges of alleged electoral misconduct before a City Magistrate.
GECOM met yesterday, a continuation of Tues-day’s statutory meeting that was abruptly ended due to a power outage, where the battle raged on as to the names of those who should make the final cut. In the end, it was the Chair, retired Justice Claudette Singh who suggested that the Commission interview Harrow, who is the Director-General of Jamaica’s Office of Disaster Pre-paredness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) and Regional Manager at the Electoral Commission of Jamaica, and Persaud who once served as GECOM’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) and former Deputy CEO.
