— on readiness to hold Regional and General Elections

PRESIDENT David Granger will meet with the chairman and commissioners of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) this morning to consult on GECOM’s state of readiness for the conduct of General and Regional Elections.

The meeting is scheduled for 11:00hrs at the Ministry of the Presidency and comes two days after the President met with the Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo.

In a letter addressed to GECOM’s Chairman, Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, writing on behalf of the President, invited Justice Patterson and the commissioners to the meeting.

“I write on behalf of His Excellency, the President, on the issue of the readiness of GECOM for the conduct of General and Regional Elections,” the missive said, while reminding that President Granger, in his February 25, 2019 letter to Justice Patterson, invited him to consultations on GECOM’s readiness for the conduct of General and Regional Elections in 2019.

The GECOM commissioners are Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin, Desmond Trotman, Robeson Benn, Sase Gunraj and Bibi Shadick. All of them are likely to attend the meeting with the Chairman Justice (ret’d) Patterson.

Moments after exiting the meeting with the opposition leader, President Granger said while he will meet with GECOM, in the interest of the nation, neither he nor his government can interfere with the operations of the commission.

The President maintained that GECOM is an autonomous agency and has explained that the Constitution of Guyana does not empower the President, Executive or anyone to interfere, intervene or intrude in the work of the commission.

“Of course, based on what will take place in the courts and the National Assembly, we are moving towards elections, but GECOM is in charge of elections not the executive. I cannot decide when elections will be held; GECOM has to advise,” the Head of State said.

The leader of the opposition, despite pushing for early elections, has refused to be part of the meeting, though he was invited by the President. “The President said why not meet GECOM jointly and I said to him ‘no’, we have absolutely no interest in meeting GECOM jointly,” Jagdeo told reporters shortly after the meeting. On Thursday, during his weekly press conference the opposition leader maintained his position.

CONSTITUTIONALLY DUE NEXT YEAR
Constitutionally, elections were due next year but following the passage of a no- confidence motion against the government in December 2018, early elections are likely. Government has since challenged the validity of the vote and the matter is currently before the Court of Appeal.

Jagdeo had initially pushed for elections by March 21 but has now revised this to April 30, 2019. However, GECOM has indicated that it cannot facilitate credible elections within the timeframe given, saying that it lacks the technical capability and financial resources to do so.

During his first meeting with the leader of the opposition in January after the vote of no-confidence against his government, the President had agreed to have the Parliamentary Chief Whips, Amna Ally and Gail Teixeira, consult with the elections commission on behalf of the government and the opposition respectively.

GECOM had informed the whips that elections could not be held within the three- month timeframe as stipulated by the Constitution. In fact, Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, had indicated that GECOM would have needed a minimum 148 days to put all necessary systems in place for the holding of General and Regional Elections if preparations had commenced in early February, and the date for election was on or before April 30 when the Official List of Electors will expire but the commission had not given the secretariat the green light.

However, with time far advanced, the 148-day timeline may no longer be applicable since it would now take the Commission past the April 30 expiration date of the Official List of Electors. At this stage, a new list is required through a process of house-to-house registration. That process is estimated to take approximately nine months. Despite the current facts surrounding the situation, the opposition is maintaining that elections must be held sooner. Initially, Jagdeo had called for elections to be held by March 21, 2019 but he has since shifted the goal post, and is now demanding that elections be held by April 30, 2019 before the expiration of the Official List of Electors.

He said that once March 21 passes without an extension to the timeline by two-third majority vote by the National Assembly, he will be calling for sanctions to be imposed against the country by the international community. According to him, People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) will be writing the CARICOM Secretariat on the current political situation.