Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Nigel Hughes has once again slammed the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) over its failure to remove Leader of The New Movement, Dr Asha Kissoon, from the National Assembly.

The embattled TNM leader has been sitting in the National Assembly for well over a year. Her party formed part of the Joinder list at the last elections and she was only expected to be in the Assembly for three months in keeping with an agreement with the other two parties that made up the Joinder list. However, Kissoon has refused to surrender the seat.

GECOM’s Legal Officer, Kurt Dasilva, recently advised the Elections Commission that Kissoon should not have been in the Assembly in the first place. He has explained that in keeping with Representation of the People’s Act, although the three parties formed part a Joinder list, it is the party that secured the most votes among them that should have the parliamentary seat for the entire term. Kissoon’s TNM party secured the least number of votes.

At a Friday press confidence, AFC Leader Nigel Hughes said it remains unclear why Dr. Kissoon continues to sit as a Member of Parliament, even with GECOM essentially admitting its own error.

“It is a very simple process by which they can issue a certificate decertifying her or alternatively recall the certificate they had issued before,” he told reporters. 

Mr. Hughes said by doing nothing, the Chairman of the Elections Commission, Claudette Singh, is facilitating the continued presence of someone in the National Assembly who is not entitled to be there.

He said the situation has become a region wide and international embarrassment for the country, and the GECOM Chairman must now step down.

“Having announced to the world that you made a mistake, and the consequence of your mistake was that there is a person sitting in the National Assembly who ought not to be there, one would have expected prompt action by GECOM. Instead, we have had delay against delay and further delay. This, as far as we are concerned, further fortifies our demand for the Chairperson of GECOM to go,” Hughes said. 

Hughes said GECOM’s inaction on this national issue, which has become a crisis, is unacceptable by any measure. 

This is the third time that the AFC is calling for the Chairman of the Elections Commission to step down. Hughes has said Singh’s failure to act has justified the calls for her resignation.

The GECOM Chairman has been facing other similar calls to step down from other political parties, even as she enjoys the full confidence of the governing People’s Progressive Party.

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