Georgetown : With political tension at all time high in Guyana given its new dispensation, the threat of snap election’s continue to loom as President Donald Ramotar himself is not ruling out the possibility.
Ramotar had just delivered a fiery presentation to the May Day gathering at the National Park, when he told this publication that such a call will be based on the actions of the political opposition as it relates to stymieing the development of the nation.
“If I conclude that this kind of behavior is slowing down our development I will have no hesitation…when I come to that decision you will know.”
Ramotar was speaking to the recent Budget cuts by the ranks of the Political Opposition which the President repeatedly said has no justification and such continued actions would force his hand at calling a snap election.
Both A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) have signaled a state of readiness for the event of a snap election but some political scientists have concluded that it is only the Peoples Progressive Civic (PPP/C) that is financially in a position to undertake an election.
Following the results at the November 29, 2011 polls which saw the PPP/C holding onto power barely, and losing control in the House of Legislature (Parliament), the government’s chief spokesperson had said that snap elections would be a last resort.
The spokesperson is that of Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon who said that the government was looking to the “tripartite meetings” to break the deadlock but this forum has never gained traction.
The extra-parliamentary budget talks which was originally between APNU and the Administration and subsequently amended to include the AFC also broke down.
The result was $21B being gutted from the 2012 Budget.
The Combined Opposition during the amendments to the 2012 Budget also relieved the Guyana Elections Commission of some $500M.
The AFC Chairman, Khemraj Ramjattan is on record as saying that attempts on the part of Government to indicate the possibility of snap elections is nothing more than an attempt to distract the opposition.
“I don’t believe that there is going to be snap elections. I believe that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) wants the opposition to be running hither, thither and across the place preparing for it (nothing)…”
Ramjattan has backed his conviction with the notion that “Mr Donald Ramotar will not be the presidential candidate because his internal Freedom House is calling for Primaries now in relation to who should be the presidential candidates. If he now calls an election and they have to find a presidential candidate, he might not be that person and he wouldn’t want to risk that and five years as President.”
APNU’s Lance Carberry had also recently shrugged off the idea of a snap election saying that it was not as easy as the president waking up one morning and calling such an election.
He was adamant that there is a host of obstacles that would prevent such a call to revisit the polls.
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