PNCR Leader Aubrey Norton yesterday said that the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice of Appeal (rtd) Claudette Singh must go.
In his first address to a General Council of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) since being elected leader in December last year, Norton launched a scathing attack on Singh and the Chief Election Officer, Vishnu Persaud.
According to the text of his address released by the party, he accused Singh of voting with government-appointed members of GECOM against the positions taken by opposition-appointed members.
Referring to his recent meeting with visiting US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Caribbean Affairs and Haiti, Barbara Feinstein, Norton said: “We raised with them the fact that, yes, we have three (3) government commissioners, and yes, we have three (3) opposition commissioners but the Chairman is supposed to be independent and what we are saying is that the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission is not independent. We have noted that she votes on every occasion with the PPP; we have noted that she (acted) with them to break the rules to make a Chief Election Officer who is not qualified for the job. And so she is partisan and our mantra must be (1) a clean voters list and (2) Claudette Singh must go! She must go to ensure that we have elections that are free and fair. Her presence will not facilitate that. It is our intention to ensure a united Guyana. We do not want elections to divide us again”.
Singh was selected as Chair by former APNU+AFC President David Granger from a list submitted by then Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo. The selection came after Granger had rejected three lists with six names each from Jagdeo and after a ruling by the Caribbean Court of Justice that the unilateral selection of retired justice James Patterson as chair was unconstitutional.
The PNCR is the main component of APNU+AFC and had not been critical of Singh during the March 2 2020 elections. Those elections saw a five-month deadlock during which there was a failed attempt to rig the elections in favour of APNU+AFC. The elections were finally declared in favour of the opposition PPP/C.
