Opposition Leader, Bharrat  Jagdeo has submitted another list of names for  nominees for the post of chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

Jagdeo said during a press briefing at the Office of the Opposition Leader on Church Street on Friday that the absence of a chair at GECOM has resulted in the work of the commission being stalled.Two lists were previously  submitted to the President but both were rejected.

In March this year , the President had pointed out that Article 161 (2) of the Constitution of Guyana states that “Subject to the provisions of paragraph (4), the Chairman of the Elections Commission shall be a person who holds or who has held office as a judge of a court having unlimited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters in some part of the Commonwealth, or a court having jurisdiction in appeals from any such court or who is qualified to be appointed as any such judge, or any other fit and proper person….”

Businessman Marcel Gaskin had however approached the High Court to interpret the article, which resulted in Chief Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire confirming that the President acting on his own deliberate judgment must determine whether a person is ‘fit and proper’.

Justice George-Wiltshire, in her ruling, advised that there is no legal requirement for the President to state reasons for rejecting a list, though it is her belief that in the furtherance of democracy and good governance, he should since Article 161 (2) speaks to the need for dialogue and compromise.