— meeting expected to be held March 6

PRESIDENT David Granger has invited Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo to meet with him to discuss the readiness and funding for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to conduct new general and regional elections.

The two are expected to meet on Wednesday, March 6, at the Ministry of the Presidency and will also discuss the National Assembly’s constitutional role in the current situation.
In a letter dated February 25, 2019, Minister of State Joseph Harmon made the correspondence on behalf of the President.

“His Excellency the President extends his best wishes and invites you to meet him at 11:00hrs on Wednesday 2019.03.06 at the Ministry of the Presidency, Vlissingen Road,” the letter stated.
“The President wishes to consult with you on the following matters: (1) The National Assembly’s constitutional role in the present situation; and (2) the Guyana Elections Commission’s readiness and requirement for funding to enable it to conduct general and regional elections.”

Harmon also relayed that the President wished to advise the opposition leader that he has written the GECOM chair, retired Justice James Patterson urging him to initiate arrangements for the conduct of elections and committed to supporting his request for financing the elections.

In a separate correspondence to the media on Tuesday, Harmon noted that the decision was made based on the issues raised by a letter first sent to the President by Patterson.
“The President has always kept himself open and available to consult with the leader of the opposition on matters of national interest. Now, based on that letter that the elections commission sent to him, the President felt that it was necessary to consult with the leader of the opposition and so he, in fact, instructed me to write the Leader of the opposition, which I did today,” Harmon said.

At a press conference on February 7, 2019, Jagdeo had stated that the only conditions under which he would consider an extension of the 90-day period is if the President would announce that preparations for general elections would start and would decide to move forward with accelerated timelines.

However, it is unknown, at this period, what the President and opposition leader intend to bargain for when they meet.