The Working People’s Alliance this evening called on “all patriotic Guyanese, opposition political parties and civil society organizations and individuals to join forces to ensure that GECOM carries out its mandate to the people without interference from the government.”
The call came in the wake of a report in the Stabroek News last week which disclosed that the Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon had instructed the Guyana Elections Commission that advertisements/notices “with the exception of those associated with discharging GECOM’s constitutional and legal responsibilities (Orders, Notices, Acts and Amendments)” must be submitted to the Government Information Agency (GINA) for placement on www.eprocure.gov.gy.
In a press release, the WPA said it wish to make it very clear that this is not a “call for alliance building to contest the 2011 elections but, because we recognize the urgency for a unified approach against the government on issues of fundamental importance to all Guyanese we feel bold to make this appeal.“
The WPA called on GECOM to say if it had agreed, as Luncheon alleged in his press briefing on October 20th, with the government’s decision and if it is also true as alleged by him that some members of GECOM now appear to have had a change of heart on the matter.
The WPA also called on GECOM to resist this attempt by government to “further compromise its independence. The future of free and fair elections in Guyana to a large extent rests in GECOM’s hands.”