Georgetown: Chief Elections Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Keith Lowenfield on Friday said he acted in conformity with the law based on his elections results report to the commission.
In a press release, Lowenfield sought to defend his position to submit a report in which 115,000 votes were invalidated from a count of the March, 2 Regional and General Elections.
The CEO however failed to pinpoint which legal provisions give him the powers to act outside of the direction of the Commission.
The report represented a third document submitted by Lowenfield which placed the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity +Alliance For Change (APNU+ AFC) administration in a considerable lead ahead of the Opposition, People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C).
Lowenfield was initially instructed to submit a report based on the CARICOM-supervised election recount. That report places the PPP/C in the lead by some 15,000 votes.
In a response to an article published in another section of the media in which he is accused on acting insubordinate of the instructions of the Commission, Lowenfield said that the accusation seem to have come from a source that only read the Constitution in part.
He claimed that the article conveniently failed to recognise the sections that dictate the functions of the Chief Election Officer.
“While the Commission makes certain policy decisions and provides guidance to the Chief Election Officer for implementation by the Secretariat, I have to execute my duties as a Constitutional Officer, particularly in the conduct of Elections,” Lowenfield said.
Lowenfield noted that the contents of the news article suggest that the CEO must only act as the Commission instructs and flout the Constitutional requirements.
“At all times, I have acted in conformity with the laws and therefore my action cannot be ‘seen as clear act of insubordination’ as articulated in the ill informed article,” the CEO added.
The latest report submitted by Lowenfield to GECOM would hand the victory in the March 2 polls to the APNU+AFC coalition, giving it a one-seat majority in the parliament. To do this, the CEO report dumps 115,844 of the valid votes tabulated during the National Recount, reducing the valid votes cast in the General Election from 460,352 to 344,508.
Moments after Lowenfield sent out a statement responding to the allegations of insubordination, the APNU+AFC followed suit.
The Party in a lengthy statement stated that the CEO is clearly empowered and instructed by the Constitution and Laws of Guyana, not by any other entity or person and that he has discharged his functions within the ambit of the law.
However, in a statement which followed, the Opposition People’s Progress Party/Civic ( PPP/C) noted Section 18 of the Elections Law (Amendment) Act 2000 states: “The Chief Election Officer and the Commissioner of Registration shall notwithstanding anything in any written law be subject to the direction and control of the Commission.”
Additionally, the Party noted specifically that Order 60/2020 upon which he and APNU/AFC rely states in pertinent part as that The Commission shall, after deliberating on the report at paragraph 12, determine whether it should request the Chief Election Officer to use the data compiled in accordance with paragraph 12 as the basis for the submission of a report under Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act Cap 1:03, provided that the Commission shall, no later than three days after receiving the report, make the declaration.
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