COMMISSIONERS of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) representing the interest of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) failed on Tuesday to block GECOM’s move to strike out an elections petition it has put forward.The petition came after the party was defeated at the General and Regional Elections on May 11 this year.
The motion which was tabled at the Statutory Meeting of GECOM was, according to PPP Commissioner Robeson Benn, “negativised after equal division by the casting vote of the Chairman of GECOM, Dr Steve Surujbally.”
According to Mr Benn, the action by the Chairman to vote against the motion appears to go in consort with those efforts which put the May 2015 elections in grave doubt and lends credence to claims of fraud at those polls.
He further accused the elections regulatory body of being unwilling to open itself to public scrutiny by way of a court process and therefore unable to deliver free, fair, transparent elections to the people of Guyana as it is mandated by law.
“Further, the studied refusal by GECOM to provide any report on the conduct and results of the May 2015 elections is of great concern and undermines the commission’s ability to make recommendations and changes which will positively impact on the conduct of future elections,” Mr Benn told reporters yesterday.
This action, he contended, does not augur well for the conduct of GECOM and the fairness of the upcoming March 18, 2016 Local Government Elections.
He also noted that the PPP Commissioners have repeatedly raised great concerns as to the policies and practices of GECOM, with respect to diversity, ethnicity and gender in its hiring practices and are anxious to receive a response on these matters, so as to respond to concerns of the public as well as stakeholders.

RECOMMENDATION
In light of this, the PPP Commissioner recommended that there is a significant need to improve the way commission meetings are held and managed, and improve corporate culture – both of which seem to have degenerated to a very unsatisfactory state.
“Commissioners present here wish to reiterate that their only interest is to help GECOM fulfil its constitutional and administrative mandates towards the people of Guyana,” Benn concluded.
The other PPP commissioners Sase Gunraj and Bibi Shadick were also present at the meeting.