Georgetown: “GECOM is in charge of elections, not the Executive. I cannot decide when elections will be held,” President David Granger told reporters minutes after meeting Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo at the Ministry of the Presidency Wednesday morning.
The President maintained that he could not call an election date unless the “independent” Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is ready, and he is expected to meet the seven-member body next week.
President Granger said d he would be asking GECOM how much money as well as time it needs to prepare for the conduct of general and regional elections.
The President confirmed that Jagdeo insisted that he named an election date.
“The President or the executive or any other body cannot intervene, cannot intrude, cannot interfere in the work of GECOM and so we have to allow GECOM to do its work,” he said. “Let me make one thing clear. GECOM is an autonomous, GECOM is an independent agency and there is no part of the constitution which gives the President or the Executive in general authority to interference, intervene or intrude in the work of the election commission.”
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo said he was not interested in discussing any other issues outside of a definite date for elections.
“I, on the 25th of February, wrote the Chairman of GECOM indicating that I am prepared to enter consultations with him to ensure that credible elections are held in a shorter time as possible. I would like to meet the entire Commission to determine what the needs are in terms of time and money,” the President said following the meeting.
The Opposition Leader has argued that the resort to GECOM’s readiness is a ploy by Granger’s administration to delay elections, “does it mean we never have elections in Guyana again if GECOM is never ready?”
According to Article 61 of the Constitution, elections are held on a date “the President shall appoint by proclamation.”
The Opposition Leader’s argument is that the Government wants to hang on to power as long as it could since the Government-nominated Commissioners are insisting on new house to house registration before elections and that can take up to eight months.
Jagdeo has proposed that elections be held by April 30 before the current voter’s list expires and he believes that is reasonable.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo said “Guyanese should be satisfied that their national leaders are sitting around the table and are discussing the more important issues that would affect all of our lives.”
The Prime Minister said the fact that a second “high-level” meeting took place in less than a month shows that all the issues on the table are being dealt with in a “purposeful way”. He explained that these matters stemmed from the December 21, 2018 vote in the National Assembly and GECOM’s readiness to host credible General and Regional Elections.
As was published in various sections of the media, the leader of the opposition insisted that a moot point of Wednesday’s discussion be focused on a date for the hosting of General and Regional Elections; however, President Granger’s position of not interfering with the election’s commission’s process was made clear.
GECOM was established under the constitution and has, as its power, the general control and supervision of elections. As such, it would be unconstitutional for the president to interfere or dictate GECOM’s proceedings.
“It would be inviting lawlessness if the president were to fix a date for elections,” Prime Minister Nagamootoo remarked.
He emphasised that the government’s position to engage GECOM on its readiness to host credible elections was made clear to the opposition by the Head of State.
Prime Minister Nagamootoo further highlighted that President Granger “has already set in train, the mechanisms” to engage with the agency’s commissioners.
The first bilateral engagement was held on January 9, 2019, where the government met with the opposition to discuss the way forward following the December 21 vote and what is stipulated according to the constitution. The Head of State led a delegation that included Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge, Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams SC., Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, and Government Chief Whip and Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally.
The group led by the opposition leader comprised Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira, and Members of Parliament, Anil Nandlall, Irfaan Ali, Bishop Juan Edghill, Dr. Frank Anthony, Pauline Sukhai and Odinga Lumumba.
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