One day before they must prove to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) that they were not citizens of a foreign state on Nomination Day, Lenox Shuman and Valerie Leung are challenging the authority via which the commission is questioning them.

“GECOM has acted illegally. GECOM has no authority to remove any …candidates from the list,” Leung declared in a three-minute video on her party’s Facebook page.

She argues in the video message that Article 163 (1)(a) of Guyana’s constitution grants exclusive jurisdiction to the High Court to determine the eligibility of any candidate for membership of the National Assembly.

Change Guyana has chosen attorney, Mishka Puran, as its replacement prime ministerial candidate for the upcoming General and Regional Elections saying that her focus will be on women’s rights and empowerment.

“She believes in women’s empowerment and that of youth and it is why we feel that she should be the person,” Change Guyana Leader Robert Badal told Stabroek News, when contacted yesterday.

“Guyana needs women in leadership, they need youth in leadership and she encompasses both. It is an amazing precedent to set also because she was nominated by party executives and unanimously chosen,” he added.