Five months after the passing of city councillor Junior Garrett and four months after the Council announced the vacancy for his seat the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has not directed that a by-election be called to fill the vacancy as required by law.
On January 26, Garrett, one of 15 constituency councillors died suddenly and on February 12 Town Clerk Royston King duly announced the vacancy for his seat. A letter was dispatched to GECOM on that same date according to King, who told this newspaper that his office received a signed receipt for the correspondence.
Stabroek News reached out to Chief Election Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield to ask if a by-election would be called to fill Garrett’s seat and was directed to the Chairman of the Commission. According to the response received from the CEO’s office it is for the commission to direct the CEO to call a by-election and no such directive was received.