–Newly-elected committee announced days after party’s internal elections

APPROXIMATELY one week after the conclusion of the internal elections and 22nd Biennial Congress of Guyana’s primary opposition party, the People’s National Congress, it officially released the names of the members elected to the Central Executive Committee.
While there are some familiar faces returning, several well-known and vocal party members appear to have failed to garner support. Amanza Walton-Desir, Christopher Jones, Geeta Chandan-Edmond, Annette Ferguson, and Roysdale Ford are among several party members who had previously secured spots on the party’s central committee.

The party’s congress had begun last Friday and voting for members was done on Sunday despite several concerns being raised about the election process. In the wee hours of Monday morning, the party announced the return of Aubrey Norton as leader, and that Shurwayne Holder had secured the spot of Chairperson. Two vice-chairpersons, namely Elizabeth Williams-Niles and Vinceroy Jordan, were elected, while Elson Low was elected as the new Treasurer.
There was a six-day delay in the declaration of results for members of the central committee.
The Party’s returning officer, Vincent Alexander attributed the delay to having fewer persons involved in the counting process. In fact, when quizzed about the delay by the local media, Alexander admitted on Friday at a press conference that he did not see the urgency to have additional persons during the tabulation process.

However, he noted that the voting and tabulation process was conducted without any breaches.
He further disclosed that there were some 1300 votes cast during the party’s elections.
The newly-elected members are: Nima Flue-Bess-835 votes; Mervyn Williams -820; Ganesh Mahipaul-810; Coretta McDonald – 808; Robin Simon-760; Riaz Rupnarain – 750; Anil Sugrim-745; Joan Ann Ramascindo-40; Sherwood Lowe-726; Troy Garraway-722; Kemel Kissoon- 702; Marcia Gordon-658; Wainwright McIntosh-658; Deron Adams-626, and Jermaine Figueira-527.

ELECTORAL CONCERNS
Prior to the party’s election, its leader Aubrey Norton had found himself battling a mountain of allegations regarding numerous infractions.
Just mere days before the opening of the congress last Friday, General Secretary Dawn Hastings-Williams tendered her resignation from her post, while both of Norton’s competitors, Amanza Walton-Desir and Roysdale Forde flagged several concerns which ultimately led their withdrawing from the race for the party’s leadership.

Both Walton-Desir and Forde “suspended” their campaigns on Thursday due to alleged irregularities and lack of transparency surrounding the congress.
In a letter, Forde said that despite several written communications addressed to the Central Executive Committee and the General Secretary regarding concerns about the integrity of the electoral processes for the party’s elections, he did not receive any response.
He went on to say: “There have been noticeable irregularities concerning the list of delegates, which raise serious concerns about the transparency of the election process.

“Unreasonable timelines have been imposed to meet certain requirements for holding the congress, which have placed undue pressure and constraints on the democratic process.”
Walton-Desir, in her statement, said: “As of the morning of June 27, 2024, one day before the commencement of our congress, a preliminary list of delegates has not been made available to me, as a candidate, to allow for claims or objections, and further, there is a lack of agreement among all candidates contesting, on the procedures for conducting the elections.”