GUYANA Elections Commission’s (GECOM’s) Chairman, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, has acknowledged Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, as the best person to remain in the post, at the commission, for at least the next three years.

Earlier in December it was announced that the decision was made to renew Lowenfield’s contract which comes to an end in March 2020. The three Opposition-nominated Commissioners had abstained from voting recommending that the matter be deferred until after the elections. However, Government-nominated Commissioners put forward that there was no justification as to why Lowenfield’s contract should not be confirmed especially since he has served well in the capacity and indicated his interest in continuing.

On Wednesday, Justice Singh told the media why she too had preference for Lowenfield. “The Chief Elections Officer, in my opinion, is a fit and proper person for that position. He has 20 years of experience, a man with institutional knowledge of this institution. It is very rare that one would find a person fit to run this institution and a person who has worked on several areas in this elections agency, a person who has actually manned three elections,” she said.

“I voted with them [Government-nominated Commissioners] in relation to the renewal of his contract because I did not think that it is proper to have someone just hanging, someone with this type of institutional knowledge and experience to just hang on like that until after elections.”

It was also pointed out that the CEO had accumulated a substantial amount of leave over the years and his contract required that he took all of it before the end of contract. The Commission had also decided to pay him in lieu of leave so that he would continue in the position up until elections next year March.