Yet another meeting of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) was aborted on Tuesday after the two opposition-nominated commissioners present, Robeson Benn and Sase Gunraj walked out.
In a press statement following the walkout the two men claimed that GECOM Chairman James Patterson refused to allow discussion to move on to the agenda item “Commissioners Comments.”
Patterson according to the release attempted to continue discussion on the agenda item “Elections”. It was this item, the seventh on a recycled list which continues to cause dissent at the commission.
The previous week, Benn walked out when “Election 2019” was restyled “elections” following an objection from Government-nominated commissioner Vincent Alexander. Gunraj and Bibi Shadick walked out one hour later when Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield told commissioners that there is no work programme for elections which excludes house to house registration (HTH). The opposition commissioners have argued strongly against HTH.
According to the Commissioners who walked out of Tuesday’s meeting they wished to have discussions on the April 1 editorial published by Stabroek News which questioned the Chairman’s behaviour relating to the bypassing of Vishnu Persaud for the post of Deputy Chief Election Officer which engaged the attention of the Ethnic Relations Commission; the letter written by attorney Anil Nandlall to Lowenfield warning against HTH and the ongoing legal proceedings at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), arising out of the No-Confidence motion which was passed in the National Assembly on 21st December 2018.
Two Fridays ago, the CCJ added GECOM as a party to the proceedings.
