Lots of Guyanese meet criteria – President

GECOM chairmanship

President David Granger has dismissed concerns raised about the difficulty in finding nominees for the Chairmanship post at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). He says there are lots of Guyanese who meet the new criteria set out by him to guide Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo in compiling a new list of potential candidates for the position.

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo and members of the PPP engaging members of the religious community during last week’s consultations

“I’m sure if they search they will find people of impartiality and integrity. There’re lots of them around… There are good Guyanese who I think satisfy those criteria. I didn’t pull them (criteria) out of the sky, they came out of the Constitution,” the Head of State told reporters on Thursday, when asked for a response to the concerns raised by the Opposition.

The President says he is confident the Opposition Leader would find suitable nominations for the GECOM Chairmanship, noting that the Constitution was written in a way to emphasise the qualities which he has asked for.

“I’m sure that Mr Jagdeo will be able to find somebody; and if he doesn’t, we can sit down and discuss it. I’m interested in having a Chairman as quickly as possible, and I’m sure he is too. So I look forward to meeting him to learn from him who his nominees are; and even if there is a problem, we can discuss it further,” President Granger posited.

After rejecting the initial list submitted by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, President Granger has since outlined the qualities that the nominees for the GECOM Chairmanship should possess in order for him to consider them for the post.

The new criteria state that the candidate should be qualified to be a Judge of the High Court, or should have been an attorney for a minimum of seven years. In the absence of those requirements, the President has said, any other “fit and proper person” could be considered, providing he/she is deemed to have wide electoral knowledge and is capable of handling electoral matters, since he/she is qualified to exercise unlimited jurisdiction in civil matters.

That person should not be an activist in any form — gender, racial or religious; nor should that person have any political affiliation or belong to any political party in any form – overt or covert. The person must be able to discharge his/her functions neutrally between the two opposing parties, as he or she would have done in court between two opposing litigants. Here, the President appears to be making it a requirement for the candidate to have practised in a court of law.

Additionally, the person must be able to discharge the functions attached to the post without fear or favour; not allowing any person or organisation to influence him or her to compromise his or her neutrality.

The President also said that the person should have a general character of honesty, integrity, faithfulness and diligence, which would enable him/her to discharge his/her duty as Chairman of GECOM.

However, following consultations with civil society bodies last week, the Opposition Leader’s Office issued a statement which noted that the criteria were considered as “an imposition on the Constitution, which makes no such demands.” The statement said most disconcerting was the stipulation that the candidate must not be an activist in any form. “(It) was thought to be discriminatory and violated the anti-discrimination articles of the Constitution,” the statement explained.

Nevertheless, the civil society groups have since made several submissions in regard to their nominees for the GECOM Head. In fact, at a press conference on Wednesday, Opposition Chief Whip Gail Teixeira disclosed that while some of the groups have made their submissions, others are having difficulty finding persons to fulfill all the criteria set out by the President.

“We’ve got about 12 to 15 (submissions)…but there are some civil society bodies who’ve indicated that when they examined the criteria, even when they come up with names, not one name can fulfill all the criteria,” she stated.

Teixeira explained that while the nominee may meet the one requirement, such as exercising jurisdiction in civil matters, they may not fulfill the other part of the criteria — possessing wide electoral knowledge. To this end, the Opposition Chief Whip insisted that the criteria set by the President undermines the constitutional provisions, and is causing extreme duress in finding nominees.

“His excellency, the President, has gone beyond the Constitution and placed undue restrictions and pressure and duress on the selection of the position of Chairperson which the Constitution itself did not contemplate. The focus of the constitution was the integrity and the independence of the post holder, and we stand firmly by that position,” she noted.

According to the Opposition Chief Whip, the remaining submissions of nominees from civil society for the GECOM Chairmanship were to be handed over by the end of Wednesday. She added that, upon the receipt of all the nominees, the Party will then determine the next step forward.