GECOM appoints Aneal Giddings as new Deputy Chief Elections Officer, despite APNU+AFC Commissioners’ objections

Last Updated on Tuesday, 4 April 2023, 16:11 by Denis Chabrol

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Tuesday appointed Information Technology (IT) Manager Aneal Giddings to the post of Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO) by a majority 4-3 decision, raising fresh concerns about whether the Chairman of that seven-member body is impartial.

Election Commissioners Vincent Alexander and Attorney-at-Law Sase Gunraj separately confirmed that Mr Giddings is the new DCEO.

Mr Gunraj, a People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC)-aligned Elections Commissioner, confirmed that he and his two other colleagues along with the GECOM Chairman voted in favour of Mr Giddings.

But Mr Alexander said the application process was fixed to shut out GECOM’s Voter Registration Manager, Melanie Marshall from being appointed to the number two administrative post of that election management body. He said initially only Ms Marshall had applied in keeping with the five-year required experience but the application process was reopened and Mr Giddings applied but he did not have the duration of experience which now stands at 3 years, 9 months. “It should be noted that the interviews were inordinately delayed by approximately one year and it is now being argued that Mr Giddings has  four years and nine months experience. As much as this is contrived, he still has not met the stipulated years of experience.  No one in the process has contested or can contest that fact.