President to meet GECOM Chair prior to the announcement
A date on when new General and Regional Elections can be held in Guyana is expected to be announced this evening by President David Granger who has stated that this date is not likely to be placed much beyond the February 2020 timeframe.

Today, at the Ministry of the Presidency on the sidelines of a Letter of Credence ceremony, the President stated that prior to making the announcement he will meet with Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chair (Ret’d) Justice Claudette Singh.

“I had discussions with the Cabinet yesterday and, naturally, we’d like to get from her [Singh] more details. So, we’ve accepted her date and I hope this evening we’ll be able to make a public announcement to the nation on the dates,” the President said, adding:

“We expected that the meeting in GECOM yesterday of the Commissioners would have hammered out a schedule. The Cabinet has not been privy to the schedule…it is my expectation that, in sending me that date, the end of February, they would have taken into consideration all of the requirements — legal and procedural requirements— that have to be met. So, I will meet the Chairman to find out from her what her timelines are, what her schedules are and, as I said, it’s a certainty that we are not interested in going much beyond the time that she has laid down.”

On Tuesday, GECOM Commissioners dealt with the qualifying date for elections, which was determined to be December, 31, 2019 and the Claims and Objections period which should commence from October 1, 2019 for a period of 35 days.

Commissioner Vincent Alexander had informed that the Commission is working towards the timetable set by the GECOM chairman for elections by February 2020.

At the end of August, Singh had decided to merge the over 300,000 fresh registrants from the recently completed house-to-house registration exercise with the existing National Register of Registrants (NRR) database.

It was explained that this reduction would also cater for an extended period of claims and objections.

While some citizens have raised concerns about whether the cut short period will infringe on their right to vote, the President said on Wednesday:

“I would like to assure my supporters and the entire country that the reasons that we went into the house-to-house registration have not been set aside and I’d like the Commission to assure me that every Guyanese, within reasonable limits, will have the opportunity to exercise their franchise when the time comes next year.”

Meanwhile, the he also told the media that he is interested in returning to Parliament to ensure that Commission has all the resources it needs to facilitate the elections.

“It is for that reason that I have not dissolved Parliament and it will remain in session until I [dissolve] Parliament and the dissolution of Parliament will only occur when I am satisfied that the entire process, as required by the Elections Commission, can move without obstruction on the date that the Chairman has set,” the President said.

“Once I dissolve Parliaments, the clock starts ticking and there will be a time limit after which elections must be held. So, we’re not interested in any prolongation. This is something I have insisted all of the year and it is only for the first time, in nine months, that the Chairman of the Commission has indicated, with absolute clarity and certainty that the Commission is going to be ready to conduct elections. There’s no way I could have named a date; there’s no way I could have demitted office before I received that letter on the 19th of September and I wish people in the international community could understand that.”