Aubrey Norton alleges collusion in CEO appointment; says GECOM Chair must go

Executive Member and contestant for leadership of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Aubrey Norton has placed on record his intention to have the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Retired) Claudette Singh removed from her post, days after she threw her support behind Vishnu Persaud as the new Chief Elections Officer (CEO).

The PNCR is the largest support base party in the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU). The partnership has already registered its dissatisfaction with Persaud’s appointment. APNU’s coalition partner, the Alliance for Change (AFC), however, welcomed Persaud’s appointment, one day after Opposition Leader, and contestant for the PNCR Leadership, Joseph Harmon said that both the APNU and AFC were disappointed.

Norton’s intentions to have Singh removed was disclosed during a recent engagement with party supporters. The video of Norton’s comments was shared on political commentator, Dr David Hind’s “Politics 101” Facebook page with the caption, “Aubrey Norton puts GECOM on notice”.

In that video, Norton told supporters and PNCR members that Singh allegedly colluded with government-nominated Commissioners at GECOM to have Persaud appointed.

“We did not believe that the best person got the job. We believe that the appointment is a collusion between the Chairman of the Elections Commission and the PPP Commissioners to put a PPP hack as Chief Elections Officer. We will oppose it,” Norton said among cheers from participants.

He added that there can be no free and fair elections in Guyana when Singh “continues to show that she is partisan in nature”. He added, “She was trusted with a job to operate independently. She has failed and when people fail us, we must do everything to see their backs. And so, I’m indicating to you that so far, there are two struggles before us: first, a new voters’ list; and second, getting rid of Claudette Singh…We gave Claudette Singh time to reform, [but] she appears to be deformed. And so, in our opinion, she has to go.”