President and the Leader of the Opposition which will begin to work immediately on exploring modalities to bring a resolution to this matter in the event that the list is rejected.’2 Nothing further has been said in these proceedings about what those ‘modalities’ were and whether they were ever worked out. However, before the High Court, the Solicitor General contended, through her Affidavit made on the Attorney General’s behalf, that the Joint Statement lacked any validity since the Constitution made no provision for this particular course of action. [7] A third list of names was submitted by the Leader of the Opposition to the President on 25 August 2017. The CVs for these nominees were also provided. On 19 October 2017, the President advised the Leader of the Opposition that this third list too was ‘unacceptable’. No explicit reason for that finding was provided. Nor did the President advise as to whether he found the entire list or only particular candidates unacceptable. The Opposition Leader was informed that, in view of the rejection of this third list, the President would have resort to the proviso to Article 161(2) and appoint a Chairman ‘without further delay’. Justice Patterson was then sworn in on that very evening. [8] In his October 19 letter, the President justified his decision unilaterally to appoint a Chairman on several bases. He first alluded to the discretion and power granted to him by Article 161(2) and its proviso. He also made reference to the presidential immunity from court scrutiny under Article 182(1) which, he claimed, empowered him to ‘act in [his] own deliberate judgment when exercising such discretion’. And he indicated that, having considered these provisions, he had decided that it would not serve the public’s interest to further delay the appointment of a Chairman. The President also sought to rely on the July 2017 ruling of the High Court in Marcel Gaskin v The Attorney General.3 [9] The Gaskin case was decided after the Leader of the Opposition had submitted to the President his second list of six names, but before the third list had been Ministry of the Presidency Co-operative Republic of Guyana, ‘Joint Statement -Government and Opposition on Selection of GECOM Chairperson’, as available at https://motp.gov.gy/index.php/2015-07-20-18-49-38/2015-07-20-18-50-14/2210-jointstatement-government-and-opposition-on-selection-of-gecom-chairperson (10 Jun 2019). 3 (Guyana HC, 17 July 2017) 2017-HC-DEM-CIV-FDA-160. 2