GECOM becoming “its own worst enemy” – Rohee

BY EDWARD LAYNE, November 11, 2015 By GuyanaTimes, Source

Local Government Elections…

The Opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP)  says the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) will end up being “its own worst enemy” if it continues to shy away from “comprehensively and objectively” addressing the reservations and concerns of the Party.

A delegation led by PPP/Civic General Secretary Clement Rohee, met with a delegation from GECOM, which included Chairman, Dr Steve Surujbally and Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield early last week, where the Opposition Party outlined eight concerns it said it wants addressed before Local Government Elections (LGE) were held.

Following the meeting, GECOM in a statement, said it “completely addressed” the concerns of the Opposition Party. However, Rohee, during a news conference on Monday, rejected GECOM’s claim that the meeting  “completely addressed” the Party’s concerns and reservations in connection to the holding of LGE.

Rohee instead argued that the meeting was only able to address one of the eight concerns listed by the PPP.

Among some PPP’s concerns are the period for Claims and Objections versus a 9th cycle of continuous registration; non-availability of lists for each constituency for use during the Claims and Objections period; the listed number of registered voters in each constituency and municipality; the non-availability of sketch maps showing each constituency with clear lines of demarcation; voters education; status of preparation of NDC’s for Local Government Elections and voting by the Disciplined Services.

“The prevailing attitude of the Chairman and the Chief Elections Officer throughout the meeting was characterised by indifference, being defensive and evasive in respect to questions and clarifications sought by the delegation,” Rohee said.

Moreover, Rohee added that whatever “clarifications” were offered by the Chairman and the CEO, the reality is that they were already in the public domain and consequently, did not add anything new to what was already known by the PPP insofar as the holding of LGE is concerned.

He said that the PPP delegation was disappointed with the answers provided, particularly as regards the demarcation of boundaries, and the possible “re-employment” of known activists of the ruling coalition.

The PPP delegation, according to Rohee, informed the Commission that it was leaving the meeting “dissatisfied with the attitude of non-cooperation and non-disclosure towards the delegation.”

The PPP and GECOM have been at loggerheads following the declaration of the results for the General and Regional Elections on May 11.

Following the election, the PPP/C called for a recount but was denied. The PPP’s concerns were further exacerbated when CEO Lowenfield declared at a live news conference following the election that there were a number of fake Statements of Poll that were used during the election.

Despite this admission, GECOM went ahead and declared results of the election, handing the coalition a slim one-seat win over the PPP/C which has been in power since October 1992.

The PPP has since mounted a campaign, calling for the replacement of Dr Surujbally, moving to the courts to challenge the results of the election.