– pens letter to GECOM’s Chair citing several reasons

LEADER of the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), Lenox Shuman, in a letter to the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, requested the immediate dismissal of the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield.
LJP is one of the nine political parties that contested the General and Regional Elections last March, for which, the results are still pending.

In his letter, Shuman alleged that the CEO has demonstrated little or no respect for the will of the electorate, and, as such, called for his dismissal.
“Over the last four (4) months, Mr. Lowenfield has conducted himself in a manner that does not command the confidence of the public and continues to demonstrate no degree of respect for the electorate, the Guyanese people nor the structures and institutions that were meant to protect and safeguard the will of the people,” the LJP Presidential Candidate wrote.

Shuman, in the letter, accused the Chief Elections Officer of being bias in the execution of his duty. Further to that, he alleged that Lowenfield has demonstrated gross negligence with regards to the safeguarding of elections documents.

It was pointed out that during the National Recount at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) in May, more than 29 ballot boxes from the East Coast of Demerara were discovered without statutory documents such as the counterfoils, Official List of Electors (OLE), poll books, folios, spoilt ballots, damaged ballots, and proxies.

Shuman believes that Lowenfield would have failed to provide clear written instructions to the Presiding Officers on Polling Day with regards to safeguarding documents.
The LJP Presidential Candidate contended that the first Elections Report submitted to the GECOM Chair by Lowenfield contained “inaccurate and fraudulent information” that was declared by Region Four’s Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo.

He alleged that following the completion of the National Recount, the CEO, in his second Elections Report, disenfranchised thousands of voters so as to project a win for the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC).

“[He] willfully attempted to disenfranchise 115,000+ voters by wanting to invalidate said number of votes, exercising authority that is not vested in him and beyond his remit in interpreting the Appeal Court’s Ruling and acting contrary to said court orders,” Shuman complained.

That report, Shuman contended, was contrary to the directions of the Commission and was an act of gross insubordination on the part of Lowenfield. It was also pointed out that the CEO was currently facing three separate criminal charges for electoral fraud.
In contending that the Guyanese electorate no longer had confidence in the CEO, the LJP Presidential Candidate recommended that Lowenfield be replaced with a candidate who will adhere to the electoral laws of the country.