– abandons September 18 push

OPPOSITION Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, has softened up on his calls for elections to be held by September 18, noting that once all the processes are followed, elections could be held late October.

Jagdeo, who was adamant that elections was constitutionally due by September 18 because of the passage of the no-confidence motion in December, 2018, said People’s Progressive Party (PPP)-appointed Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Commissioners have worked out a timeline for the holding of elections.

“A realistic date would be long before the end of the year… we discussed this and I saw the commissioners, representing the PPP, worked out a timeline,” said Jagdeo during a press briefing on Thursday.

The opposition leader said it would be impossible now to hold the elections by September 18, given that GECOM has not yet made a decision on the way forward.
“I have seen a timeline worked out which would have, with all of the processes being followed, elections towards the latter part of October,” said Jagdeo.
He reiterated that elections could be held long before December, but in order for that to happen, he said GECOM must stop the house-to-house registration exercise and pursue claims and objections.

GECOM, however, is in the process of discussing a way forward as it relates to house-to-house registration which started on July 20, 2019.

“We have started the discussions on the way forward, but it is incomplete,” said government-appointed GECOM Commissioner, Vincent Alexander, in an invited comment following a three-hour long meeting between commissioners and Chairperson of GECOM, Retired Justice, Claudette Singh, on Wednesday.

The commission is discussing the way forward in the context of the Chief Justice (ag), Roxane George-Wiltshire’s ruling on the legality of house-to-house registration.
She had ruled that the ongoing house-to-house registration being undertaken by GECOM is within the confines of the Constitution and is therefore legal.

The acting chief justice delivered her judgement in a case challenging the constitutionality of house-to-house registration brought before the High Court by Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram, in which GECOM’s Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, and Attorney-General, Basil Williams, were the named respondents.

Justice George-Wiltshire ruled that the Constitution and the Laws of Guyana provide for the conduct of house-to-house registration as a form of verification – a position that was argued by the attorney general and the attorneys that represented the Chief Elections Officer – Senior Counsel Neil Boston and Roysdale Forde.

As such, she ruled that the June 11 Order published in the Official Gazette by the then Chairman of Elections Commission, Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson was in compliance with established laws. The order paved the way for the house-to-house registration exercise to be conducted from July 20, 2019 to October 20, 2019 – a period of three months.
While the constitutionally mandated deadline for the conduct of elections subsequent to a no-confidence motion has passed (March 21, 2019), the acting chief justice pointed to the fact that to date there is no date fixed for which General and Regional Elections would be held.

With elections due, commissioners of the elections body and chairperson of GECOM, Retired Justice, Claudette Singh discussed possible scenarios that could be used to clean the Official List of Electors (OLE).

“There were frank discussions on the topic… we were arguing our own dispositions, but at the end of the day, it is an incomplete discussion,” said Alexander, adding that in the circumstances of the ongoing discussion, he would prefer not to make any further revelations about what occurred in the meeting.

“I would say one may concur that we prefer in the interest of taking the process forward, preferably to not make public disclosures… the public will get a decision,” he said.

Officials of GECOM are set to meet again on Friday at 13:00hrs to continue discussions on the house-to-house registration process.