GECOM Chairman insisted on path to earliest date for elections – Vincent Alexander

The Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Justice (rt’d) Claudette Singh has always been interested in breaking down the timelines to see the best possible date for elections, Government nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander stated Wednesday afternoon.

He said that while the PPP nominated Commissioners have insisted on a November date for elections, Alexander said they have not presented details of how that could be achieved.

On the other hand, he said Government Commissioner Charles Corbin presented a written proposal that has a March 2020 date for elections; this accords with the timeline the Secretariat has been working with.

PPP Commissioner Sase Gunraj said he considered the timelines for the holding of elections and deliberately did not present a proposal because he did not want to get involved in a protracted debate about irrelevant issues that would have further delayed the decision-making process of the Chairman.

“…after considering my timeline and determining that it was eminently possible to hold elections before the end of the year, I chose instead to reiterate that position to the chairman and commission instead of making a formal proposal,” Gunraj told the News Room.

The Chairman has undertaken to provide the Commissioners with a date for elections by 10:30 hrs on Thursday; following this, she will most likely write the President, informing of the earliest possible date for general elections.

Since the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) – Guyana’s last court of appeal – had determined that the constitutional clock began ticking again from June 18 when they made their final decision on the legal challenges to the No Confidence motion – elections should have been held by today.

The constitution dictates that elections be held within three months of the passage of a No-Confidence motion. The motion was passed on December 21, but the timeline was put on pause because of the legal challenges, the CCJ had held.

Justice Singh had previously told representatives of the opposition PPP and the government that she was interested in elections at the earliest possible time, possibly the end of the year.