Georgetown: President David Granger announced that he will shortly give a date for General and Regional Elections but opposition leader in a rebuttal said any date close to year end will be unacceptable.
On Wednesday, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon wrote Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, informing him that the President is preparing to announce the date. The letter suggested that Granger would be likely veering for what Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson informed him this week- that based on the fact that house-to-house registration will take some time, no elections can be held before late November.
The response from the GECOM chairman came after the Head of State wrote him, asking him to produce the commission’s work programme and to inform of the readiness to deliver “credible” elections in Guyana.
Patterson on Tuesday, March 19, then responded to the president: “…I would proffer that the Commission would be in a position to conduct General and Regional Elections no earlier than late November 2019 with an official list of electors having a qualifying date of 31st October 2019.”
Giving an indication of the president’s thinking, Harmon, in the released letter sent to Jagdeo, said that the president’s announcement of a date would be within the context of what the GECOM’s chairman has provided in his answer.
Timeline
“In the circumstances I am instructed to inform you that His Excellency the President intends to shortly name a date for General and Regional Elections in Guyana within the framework provided by the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission.”
However, the Opposition Leader, yesterday responded that he has carefully perused the content of the letter, more particularly the final paragraph which says that President Granger will shortly name a date for elections within the framework provided by the Chairman of GECOM.
Jagdeo said that he has already expressed his views on the “framework provided by the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission” — one that includes national House-to-House Registration and General and Regional Elections in “late” November 2019.
“I reiterate that the timeline outlined by the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, in his March 19, 2019 letter, is totally unacceptable. I, therefore, request that you remind President David Granger that at midnight tonight (March 21, 2019) his Government becomes illegal.”
The Coalition Government and the president have been insisting that they cannot call elections without being advised by the “independent” GECOM.
A major political situation has been ongoing since December 21, when a no-confidence motion by the Leader of the Opposition was carried in the National Assembly.
This was after a parliamentarian for the Coalition Government, Charrandass Persaud, joined with the Opposition to say yes to the motion.
It triggered elections, as catered for under the Constitution of Guyana, to be held within 90 days.
That 90 days, according to the Opposition, ended Thursday.
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