The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) today held a virtual meeting to determine the way forward on motions calling for the dismissal of Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, his deputy Roxane Myers, and Returning Officer for Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) Clairmont Mingo.
However, the Opposition-nominated Commissioners – Vincent Alexander and Desmond Trotman – logged out of the meeting before those motions could be discussed.
This is according to Government-nominated Commissioner Sase Gunraj who told this publication that “they said they don’t want to participate in the motion and they walked out, they just logged out of the meeting.”
Their walk out resulted in a lack of quorum and as such, the meeting had to be adjourned by Chairperson Justice Claudette Singh.
Asked about the way forward, Gunraj noted that there are still a lot of options but it is ultimately for the GECOM Chair to decide.
“We are waiting to hear on what the Chairman will say,” he noted.
On June 1, 2021, the Government Commissioners filed three motions calling for the dismissal of Lowenfield, Myers and Mingo.
Lowenfield, Myers and Mingo are all before the courts for a number of electoral charges for their 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.
Since the filing of the motion, the seven-member Commissioner has been unable to hold a debate on the matter.
On June 22, 2021, GECOM had unanimously decided to send the trio on leave pending the outcome of the motions. Lowenfield had 42 days leave, Myers 120 days, and Mingo 35 days.
Lowenfield has since filed a court case seeking to block Gunraj and Shadick from participating in the debate of his motion.
