By Lakhram Bhagirat
Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh and the Government- nominated Commissioners yesterday voted down a proposal to have an independent or mixed panel oversee the shortlisting and interviewing of candidates to fill the posts of Chief Election Officer (CEO) and Deputy CEO.
The decision was taken at the Commission’s statutory meeting and later related by Opposition-nominated Com-missioner Vincent Alexander during an appearance on the internet talk show – Politics 101 with Dr David Hinds.
At a previous meeting of GECOM, following the receipt of 40 applications for the posts of CEO and DCEO, Opposition-nominated Commissioner Desmond Trotman tabled a proposal to have an independent panel appointed to conduct the interviews and then submit a report to the Commission. Traditionally, the Commis-sioners would be the ones interviewing the applicants and scoring them using a standard score sheet and then presenting a report to the Commission for appointment. However, with the debacle at the March 2020 elections and that each Commission-er is perceived as having an inherent bias as they are appointed by political parties, Trotman had proposed the motion.