GECOM Chair votes to release elections data requested by AG despite Opposition objection

Sep 07, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission  (GECOM),  retired Justice  Claudette Singh,  has voted to release documents related to the claims by the Opposition, A Partnership for National Unity +Alliance For Change (APNU +AFC),  that there were certain documents that purport to prove the claims of fraud at the 2020 regional and general elections.

Chairperson of GECOM, Justice Claudette Singh

Government nominated GECOM Commissioner, Sase Gunraj in a public statement via his Facebook page disclosed that Justice Singh voted to release the document despite fierce objection of Opposition MPs.

“PNC Commissioners vehemently object to the release of documents supplied by APNU+AFC to support its claim of rigging, as requested by the AG [Attorney General]. Chairman votes to release!” Gunraj declared in the post.

The decision was made following deliberations at the weekly statutory meeting of GECOM. Last week, a request by Attorney General (AG), Anil Nandlall, SC, wrote the Chairperson requesting the information.

In his letter  to the GECOM Chair, Nandlall noted that the allegations that the APNU+AFC continues to peddle allegations that the deceased persons voted at the elections; that the elections were tainted by multiple voting and that persons who were overseas voted on elections day.

Nandlall noted that the allegations continue to be peddled in the public domain without any proof.

He said, “At the time and until now, the impression that [is conveyed by the APNU+AFC ] that is these documents and or data were generated by and obtained from the lawful repository of the specific information that is Immigration Department, the Guyana Police Force and the General Registrar’s Office.”

As such, Nandlall said it is necessary that GECOM releases the documents in its possession to clear the air.

“You will appreciate that these grave allegations, and as baseless and unfounded as they were proven to be, it is important that the relevant State agency enquires into the source of this information upon whose direction they were sourced and perhaps, most importantly, to officially reconfirm their accuracy for the public record,” the AG had said in his request to GECOM.