Vishnu Persaud has been selected as the new Chief Elections Officer of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
Persaud was one of over 15 persons who had applied for the position in October. He and former Jamaican electoral official Leslie Harrow were shortlisted and interviewed on Monday.
When the seven-member Election Commission met today to deliberate on who was the successful candidate, there was a deadlock which was broken by GECOM Chair Justice Claudette Singh who voted in favour of Persaud.
Persaud, who was employed as GECOM’s Deputy CEO from 2014 to 2017, was overlooked for appointment when he sought to return to the position in 2018.
In fact, his non-appointment sparked controversy and even an investigation by the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), which had concluded six months after that he was overlooked and was more qualified than the person who was chosen over him for the position, Roxanne Myers.
GECOM has to now fill the position of DCEO.
The then CEO Keith Lowenfield; his Deputy, Roxanne Myers, and Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo were fired from GECOM in August.
The embattled trio is currently before the courts facing a number of electoral fraud charges for their alleged attempts to sway the results of the March 2020 General and Regional Elections in favour of the then ruling A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government.
