— as the race continues for a new Chief Elections Officer

THREE foreigners of the 20 applicants who applied to fill the position of Guyana’s Chief Elections Officer (CEO) were all shortlisted by the two main political parties as prospective candidates.

When the members of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) met on Tuesday, both the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) submitted their shortlisted candidates; the names of Leslie Oliver Harrow from Jamaica; Eugene Godfrey Petty from St. Kitts; and Dr. Kurt G. Clarke from Texas, United States appeared on both lists.

PPP/C-aligned GECOM Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, confirmed that while he and Manoj Narayan did not submit their lists, their colleague, Bibi Shadick submitted on behalf of the governing party.

GECOM’s Information Technology Manager, Aneal Azhar Giddings, along with former Commissioner of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), Pandit Deodat Persaud, and former Public Relations Officer of the GECOM, Vishnu Persaud were also shortlisted by the PPP.

It was explained that even though the name Vishnu Persaud appeared at the top of the list, the shortlisted candidates were documented in random order. Persaud was first appointed as GECOM’s PRO in November 2001, after which he applied and was deemed the successful candidate for the Deputy CEO position. He was appointed to the latter post in 2014, and served for a period of three years, after which his contract was not renewed.

When the vacancy for the said position was advertised, Persaud reapplied, and although he scored the highest points for the job, he lost to Roxanne Myers, who is currently facing criminal charges relating to electoral fraud.

Ironically, the determining vote choosing Myers over Persaud was cast by the then Chairperson of GECOM, Justice (ret’d) James Patterson, whose appointment was, in the first place, deemed “flawed” by the Caribbean Court of Justice, forcing him to resign.

A probe conducted by the Ethnic Relations Commission found that Persaud was indeed the most qualified candidate to fill the Deputy CEO position at GECOM, and Patterson’s failure to produce evidence to back his claims of Persaud’s alleged incompetence was discredited by the ERC.

Nonetheless, it would appear as though the APNU+AFC Coalition is not in favour of having any locals be put in charge of the local elections, since their list only contained the names of the foreign nationals.