Georgetown: The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has said it will not participate in the long overdue Local Government Elections now scheduled for later this year, if Guyana Elections Commission Chairman (GECOM), Dr Steve Surujbally remains at its helm.
Since the announcement of the results of the 2015 General and Regional Elections, the Party has been calling for the immediate resignation of Surujbally. The call was mounted particularly because of his failure to acquiesce to the Party’s request for a total recount of the ballots, as it contended that the elections were rigged.
At his weekly press conference on Monday at the Party’s Freedom House headquarters, Rohee made it clear that the PPP/C’s position remains that Dr Surujbally must give up his position, telling journalists “Not with Mr Surujbally” when asked about participating in the elections.
“We have been calling for his resignation. We want Mr Surujbally’s resignation almost immediately.”
He said any other changes the Party will be seeking regarding the operations of the election body will be relayed in the petition that will be filed in the High Court.
Local Government polls were due in Guyana since 1997.
Dr Surujbally had maintained that he will resign his post when he feels it is necessary.
Election petition
Meanwhile, at its press conference last week, the Party had indicated that it was one step closer to filing the election petition. Rohee had said that the PPP/C had already gathered significant data for the petition.
PPP/C Executive, former Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall had stated earlier that the petition is a special type of litigation which has its own peculiar rules and therefore a lot of care has to be taken in preparing the elections petition. The Party has said that due to the “many discrepancies and irregularities that occurred on Election Day”, there are reasons enough to doubt the results declared by the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield.
Further, the PPP/C has been contending that if GECOM is maintaining that the results are credible, a recount of the entire results would not be a big deal.
GECOM last week adopted the official position that it was not in a position to grant requests made by political parties for a recount or final count of ballots cast at the 2015 General and Regional Elections. Dr Surujbally added that the Commission has not granted the Party’s request for certain materials, so the PPP/C legal representatives were looking into the matter.
You must be logged in to post a comment.