With general elections due towards the end of 2025, Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chair Claudette Singh has declined to say whether she will remain in the position.
During a press conference on Friday on the recent Local Government Elections, the GECOM Chair was asked by Stabroek News if she was desirous of remaining in the position for the general elections.
In response, the Chairwoman said “Well, I won’t be able to answer that question.”
Asked when she will be able to provide an answer she responded with the words “I don’t know”.
Singh was selected as chair on July 26, 2019 following an agreement between then President David Granger and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo. The meeting had followed a decision by the Caribbean Court of Justice that Granger’s appointment of retired justice James Patterson as Chairman was ultra vires of the constitution. Patterson’s appointment had followed Granger’s rejection of three lists of six nominees each from Jagdeo for the post of chair, an unprecedented development since the introduction of the Carter-Price formula for selection of the chair in 1990.
While Singh presided over what was seen as a well-run election on March 2nd, 2020 she was lambasted for not taking charge on the day when a clear effort got underway to rig the vote count and to have the incumbent, President David Granger sworn back into office. This led to a five-month delay in the declaration of the results. The new administration was only sworn in on August 2, 2020.
Singh made an appearance last December before the Commission of Inquiry into the elections when she was questioned about her whereabouts and her actions of the day when the first illegal declaration was made of the District Four count. At least one of the commissioners expressed surprise at her responses. Since the general election, Singh has come in for severe criticism from the main opposition APNU.
