Latest update January 18th, 2025 7:00 AM
Dominican lawyer chosen to represent Lowenfield in elections petition
– Opposition Commissioners call selection “prejudicial”
Kaieteur News – Dominican Senior Counsel (SC) Anthony Astaphan has been selected by the Commissioners and Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to represent Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield in the upcoming elections petition.
GECOM Commissioner, Vincent Alexander
Revealing these and other details was opposition-appointed commissioner, Vincent Alexander during a virtual press conference yesterday.
According to the Commissioner, during the commission’s meeting on Friday, he as well as the two other opposition-appointed Commissioners, Desmond Trotman and Charles Corbin, had restated their reservations on the retention of SC Astaphan. The three Commissioners based their reservations on that Astaphan “had made public statements, prejudicial to the CEO, on the 592 Kaieteur Radio broadcast and televised programme.”
Alexander did not state specifically what those “prejudicial” statements were, but maintained that they do not bode well for the necessary working relationship between the CEO and Counsel.
“In keeping with the previous decision,” Alexander said, “Senior Counsel Neil Boston was proposed by Commissioner Trotman to be a member of the team. That proposition was rejected with varying degrees of negativity by the government- appointed Commissioners, but the Chairperson did not pronounce on that matter.”
Having listened to the aforementioned presentations, the Chairperson announced that Astaphan would be appointed, Alexander noted.
He went on to articulate that, “That announcement was greeted with questions about Boston`s nomination and the Chairperson`s adherence to the agreed approach with regard to the constituting of a team, including the fact that no feedback had been provided on the facilities that were to be made available to the CEO for his involvement in the process of selection.
According to Alexander, the GECOM Chair remained “mum” in relation to whether she had conveyed, to the CEO, the decision of the previous meeting with regards to his involvement in the selection process.
“She also retorted that anyone who was dissatisfied with the situation, including the CEO, could approach the Chief Justice on the matter. She was reminded that the matter had nothing to do with the Chief Justice, rather it had to do with her not carrying out the decision of the Commission with regard to the appointment of Counsels and the CEO`s involvement,” Alexander expressed.
“What has emerged at GECOM is untenable,” the Commissioner said, while adding that the Chairperson`s manner of handling this important matter is also “cause for concern.”
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