President David Granger this afternoon appointed Justice Claudette Singh SC, CCH, as the new Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and, according to Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo, the process was consensual and the selection a “positive development”.
Jagdeo made this revelation during a press conference he held this afternoon shortly after the Ministry of the Presidency announced Justice Singh’s selection.
“That is a great development. Delivering fair elections is all the PPP wants – fair and timely elections,” Jagdeo said.
In outlining the process, Jagdeo explained that both leaders met at the Ministry of the Presidency this afternoon where they continued to ‘hammer out’ a list of nominees “not unacceptable” to the President.
After four names were previously found to be not acceptable to the president. Both leaders then had to come up with two more. Those two names were added to the list, making the list complete. One of the names was that of Justice Singh, whom Jagdeo said agreed to be part of the submission after she refused some time ago.
Now that the list contained six names that were not unacceptable to the president, the formal process was triggered.
Jagdeo was written to and requested to formally submit the list which was – according to the Ministry of the Presidency – received and reviewed by the President later this afternoon.
The President, in that regard, swiftly made a selection from the list of nominees and approved Justice Singh, who the Ministry says, satisfies the criteria for the appointment and also satisfies the ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) for a consensual appointment supported by both the President and the Leader of the Opposition.
The former Chairman of GECOM, Justice (Retired) James Patterson, resigned from the post on Monday, June 24, 2019, following the ruling of the CCJ that his appointment was “flawed” and thereby unconstitutional.
