Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland has urged President David Granger and all relevant stakeholders and institutions to “restore constitutional rule in Guyana” without further delay.

The call comes even as President David Granger maintains that he is acting within the confines of the Constitution and treating “urgent” the selection of a date for new General and Regional Elections.

“…in accordance with the ruling of the CCJ, a general election in Guyana is now constitutionally overdue. A general election should be held in accordance with the unambiguous constitutional imperative to do so.  The Secretary-General has spoken with the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and discussed Commonwealth support to GECOM,” Scotland stated.

She added that the rule of law and constitutional governance are fundamental Commonwealth values to which Guyana has subscribed.

Scotland therefore advised the immediate setting of an early election date in consonance with the Constitution. Making similar calls on Monday was the Private Sector Commission (PSC) which stated that the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), having relayed a deliverable elections timeline by the end of February 2020, should see the President now naming a date.

“The Private Sector Commission now calls upon President Granger to name a date for the holding of Regional and General Elections by the end of February as defined by GECOM without any further prevarication or delay,” the PSC stated on Monday.

Meanwhile, just on Sunday, President David Granger stated that he intends to meet with his fuller Cabinet today with the hope of arriving at a consensus on an election date.
While the President convened a meeting with this Cabinet members of the date that he was informed by Singh, all ministers of Cabinet within the six-party coalition were not present at the time.

The newspaper was able to confirm that at least two ministers were out of the jurisdiction at the time. “When I left Pegasus Hotel, I went straight into Cabinet meeting. Some Ministers were travelling, so we have had the first Cabinet meeting. Regardless of what other misinformed media outlets [are saying], we have had the first meeting and it will be coming up again,” the Head of State told the DemeraraWaves and Stabroek News on Sunday. “Prime Minister was there; Minister of Public Security was there; the two ministers who were affected by the hooliganism were there; but the fuller cabinet will meet again on Tuesday…this is urgent.”