Guyana seeks Chief Elections Officer

Oct 01, 2013 News

The Guyana Elections Commission is seeking a Chief Elections Officer to replace Gocool Boodoo who was not supported by the majority of the Guyana Elections Commission.
Amid allegations of having attempted to illegally alter the results of Guyana’s 2011 general elections, commissioners of the Elections Commission voted in July by majority, through a casting vote of the Chairman, Dr Steve Surujbally, not to re-new the contract of Chief Elections Officer, Gocool Boodoo, and now the search is on home and abroad for a person of integrity to fill the position.
An advertisement appearing in the Barbados Nation newspaper yesterday, reads in part, “The Chief Elections Officer is required to play the key leadership role in the Secretariat of the Guyana Elections Commission (GEOCOM) with responsibility for implementing all aspects of its operations, and ensuring that results achieved are consistent with the laws of Guyana and the policies determined by the Chairman and Commission”.
Notice of this vacancy in a Barbados paper suggests that invitations to apply for the post might also be placed in publications across the Caribbean, and even further afield. The deadline was yesterday.
Reports are that following the 2011 elections vote count, Boohoo sought to rush through an allocation of seats that would have given the People’s Progressive Party a majority of one over the combined Opposition, and in so doing would have defrauded the Alliance for Change of one of its seats in parliament.
The erroneous allocation of seats was spotted by Commissioner Vincent Alexander, whose identification of the miscalculation resulted in AFC receiving seven seats, and A Partnership for National Unity 26, for a combined majority of one over the PPP’s 32 seats.
It was only this year, and following numerous denials by Boodoo that he attempted to fudge the figures, that Alexander went public showing that the Chief Elections Officer’s ‘error’ was no mistake, but a deliberate act.
At a July 16 meeting of the Commission, the six commissioners voted to a three-three deadlock on whether to renew Boodoo’s contract, with the Government members in favour and Opposition nominees against.
In making his casting vote with the opposition commissioners and breaking the deadlock, thereby shutting the door on Boodoo, Dr Surujbally said that among his reasons for going against the former Chief were his poor leadership qualities
Even a blunt accusation of dishonesty was made.
“There was a time when I used to make a collection of Mr Boodoo’s duplicities and dishonesties. After a while I discontinued this practice because no amount of talking to or admonishing Mr Boodoo on these issues resulted in any meaningful change,” the Chairman said.

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