10 shortlisted; 1 already declined nomination for GECOM Chair

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo on Wednesday said he had shortlisted a batch of 10 individuals for the post of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman however one potential candidate has since declined the nomination.

“From the 10, we now have to go down to the first six we will talk to but one of the ten already said to me ‘no, I don’t want to be subjected to public humiliation’, so I now have to talk one on one with those people, so over the course of the next few days ill do that,” Jagdeo told reporters during a news conference at his Church Street Office.

He also noted that not all of the shortlisted individuals are from the media fraternity.

Though it has been more than one month since the second list of nominees was rejected by the President David Granger, Jagdeo said he cannot say definitively when a third list will be ready as the process is now very challenging.

Jagdeo on several occasions had complained of the process being difficult given the fear of potential candidates of being publicly rejected by the Head of State.

In the event the President rejects the third list of nominees, the two leaders have agreed at their last meeting on the issue to compile a high level team to fast-track the process.

GECOM has been without a Chairman since the resignation of Dr Steve Surujbally in February 2017 6 and concerns have been raised of the entity’s work being stymied as a result.