Western diplomats yesterday met with the GECOM Chair Justice of Appeal (ret’d) Claudette Singh and Chief Election Officer Vishnu Persaud.
The diplomats at the meeting were Ambassador of the United States, Nicole Theriot; the High Commissioner of the United Kingdom, Joe Fisher; the High Commissioner of Canada, Deborah Gomes-Schultz; the European Union Ambassador, Luca Pierantoni; and the Ambassador of France, Olivier Plançon.
According to a brief statement posted on the Facebook pages of their respective missions, the diplomats said: “This was an informative and constructive discussion on Guyana’s electoral process, including the Commission’s consideration of recommendations from observer missions to the September 2025 General and Regional Elections, as well as ongoing efforts and priorities to strengthen electoral processes and institutions, also in view of the next local elections”.
GECOM has not met for more than a year following a political stalemate over the opposition-nominated commissioners. The GECOM Chair has held that representation has to be changed in line with the results of last year’s elections. The current opposition-nominated commissioners have refused to resign.
In the meanwhile, Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed has written President Irfaan Ali nominating three new commissioners. The President has ignored several pieces of correspondence from the Opposition Leader on this matter.
With GECOM not meeting, Local Government Elections which were to be held before the end of this year are in limbo and there has been no indication on when these will be held.
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