GUYANA will head to the polls more than a year early, according to an announcement made by President Donald Ramotar over the weekend; and while no date has been set, the ruling party expects no fallout as a result.
“I do not expect a fallout at all. Some people describe it in different ways, but I think the President was tactful in taking that approach,” Clement Rohee, General Secretary of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP), said during the Party’s weekly press conference held at Freedom House on Robb Street.
“Is there anything wrong with the President and the ruling party adopting certain tactical and strategic approaches with respect to the electoral process in our country? No, so long as it is not unconstitutional,” – PPP General Secretary, Clement Rohee
Rohee said President Ramotar’s announcement was a “practical” one, considering the current circumstances. “Politicians in different countries adopt different tactical and strategic approaches in dealing with local elections. Is there anything wrong with the President and the ruling party adopting certain tactical and strategic approaches with respect to the electoral process in our country? No! So long as it is not unconstitutional,” the PPP General Secretary stressed.
Rohee’s comments follow criticisms of the fact that the President has provided timeframes, as opposed to naming a specific date for general and regional elections early next year.
“Why should we get upset if the President exercises presidential prerogatives within the meaning of the Constitution and the laws of Guyana?” the PPP General Secretary questioned.
The Head of State was clear that a date for the early return to the polls would be announced long before the Mashramani celebrations, possibly as early as in his New Year’s Message to the nation; and he reasoned that, this way, Guyanese people’s Christmas holidays, less than three weeks away, would not be disrupted.
Rohee accordingly expressed confidence that, “at the appropriate time,” the President would name a date for general and regional elections as he committed over the weekend to doing.
President Donald Ramotar has painstakingly explained that, once a date is set, it would translate into the dissolution of Parliament, which currently still stands suspended under the November prorogation proclamation.
Had he announced a date for elections on Saturday, it would have meant that political parties would have had to kick into campaign mode, which would have spanned the entire Christmas season.
Also, once the President announces a date to go to general and regional elections, constitutionally, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has three months within which to deliver; and the Commission is currently engaged in the seventh cycle of continuous registration, which started on December 1.
“I have considered and I have consulted, and this is my resolve: We will go to elections. I have also since written to the international community, alerting them to the possibility of early elections and the desire for them to field observer missions,” he said.
President Ramotar’s announcement of a move to general and regional elections comes after his November 18 invitation for dialogue to Leader of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), Brigadier (rtd) David Granger, had been rejected.
