GECOM to meet today

…expected to make declaration

Following the ruling of the Court of Appeal on Monday, the seven-member Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is scheduled to meet today at 11:00h.

This was confirmed by several Commissioners when contacted by Guyana Times.
The meeting follows the Court of Appeal ruling, in the case brought by APNU/AFC supporter Eslyn David, that only valid votes must be used in the determination of the elections results.

At the last meeting of the Commission on Thursday, June 18, the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, was slated to submit his final elections report, paving the way for the official declaration of the winner of the 2020 elections held more than three months ago.

Lowenfield was advised to submit the report after GECOM’s Chair, Retired Justice Claudette Singh decided that she would go ahead with the declaration of the certified results from the recount exercise, which showed that the PPP/C won with 233,336.
However, on Thursday, Lowenfield was served with a mere Notice of Motion and as such, he opted to not submit the report.
Additionally, there was no quorum at the Commission meeting following the absence of two APNU/AFC Commissioners.
Those circumstances resulted in the meeting being adjourned to the next day, Friday, June 19. However, that meeting was put on hold following the hearing on the Notice of Motion in the Appeal Court.
With the ruling delivered, the Commission will meet again today to discuss the way forward.
General Secretary of the PPP, Bharrat Jagdeo has already contended that there is nothing preventing GECOM from making a declaration since the issue of “valid votes” has already been settled by the Commission.