There could be a GECOM chair “as early as Monday”, if Opposition acts in consensual manner – Granger – backpedals on accepting nominees from rejected 18

Jul 13, 2019 News

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President David Granger, hours after a number of orders from the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), says that he is prepared to appoint a new chair for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) by Monday. However, he has conditions.

The Leader of Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, must toe the line and act in a consensual manner and in good faith if the process is to come to a conclusion.
The President also appeared to have changed his mind when it came to him considering names of 18 persons who were submitted on three lists that he rejected back in 2017.
Last week, the President had said he was willing to accept names of the 18 persons. In fact, 11 of those 18 names were submitted by the Opposition Leader, with three meetings held between teams from the Government and the Opposition Leader this week.
Those talks to shortlist names from the Opposition’s list of 11 and the government’s list of eight, ended Thursday, after the sides said they reached a stalemate.
Under the laws, the Opposition Leader has to propose a list of six with the President choosing one that he finds “not unacceptable”.
In 2017, after not accepting 18 of the names, the President then unilaterally appointed Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson as chair of GECOM, but a recent CCJ ruling found that the selection process was flawed and unconstitutional. He resigned recently, leaving the post vacant and a scramble to name a chair.
The position is a battleground, one ahead of early elections triggered by the December 21st no-confidence vote which was deemed carried by the CCJ.
Yesterday, President Granger insisted on a clean list, but said he wants early elections also in keeping with the court rulings.
“Guyanese, the Constitution of Guyana is sacrosanct and supreme. The independence of the judiciary remains intact and the Elections Commission remains independent. The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has now concluded its deliberations and has issued its Consequential Orders on the consolidated cases related to the appointment of the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission and the passage of the no-confidence motion.”
He said that the court has noted that of the greatest public importance, the President and the Leader of the Opposition should conclude the process of appointing a new GECOM chair.
“The President of the CCJ, Justice Adrian Saunders, stated that this is imperative and of utmost urgency. I agree. I have committed since 21st December 2018 to the holding of free and fair elections.”
Stressing that credible elections are essential to representative democracy, the Head of State also pointed out that the credibility of the elections is dependent, in part, on the integrity of the Official List of Electors.
“I maintain that a contaminated list can vitiate the credibility of elections.”
Granger expressed his unhappiness with the current negotiation process between Government and the Opposition to hammer out a number of acceptable nominees.
“Guyanese, I met the Leader of the Opposition on 4th July in good faith. We discussed the process by which the nomination of persons would be submitted to me for the post of GECOM Chairman. Representatives of both the Government and the Opposition have met three times this week. However, that good faith has not been reciprocated by the Leader of the Opposition. It was my hope that the two sides would have been able to “hammer out” the list of six nominees in accordance with the CCJ guidelines.”
Granger stressed that it is unfortunate that, despite the meetings between the two sides, the Leader of the Opposition “rejected” the idea of acting in a consensual manner.
“He chose to put forward candidates for the post who have been rejected previously.
Guyanese, it is clear that elections have to be held in the shortest possible time and, therefore, it is crucial to appoint a chairman of the Elections Commission. This could be done as early as Monday if the Opposition is prepared to act in a consensual manner and in good faith.”
The President repeated what the Government has been saying: “GECOM and not the Executive is in charge of the elections. GECOM has to advise the President on its readiness to conduct elections. I commit to the holding of credible elections in the shortest possible time. Guyanese, I will devote all my energies until the forthcoming election to serving our people and our country and to delivering good governance.”
He made a pitch to Guyanese, “of whatever background when the election comes, to back myself, and the Coalition to secure a better future for Guyana”.
Government and the Opposition, in addition to battling in the courts, have been clashing over GECOM.
The former chairman had said that GECOM was preparing for house-to-house to sanitise the voters’ list which could take months. However, the Opposition has made it clear that it is not accepting any such time-consuming exercise being conducted. Rather, it said a short claims and objections period would be suitable and elections could be held within three months.

 

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