President-elect Donald Ramotar will be sworn in today at State House.
PPP/C spokesman Robert Persaud told Stabroek News yesterday that the ceremony would be held at 1pm.
Ramotar, who was declared the winner of the presidency on Thursday, would lead a minority government after the PPP/C failed to secure a majority of the 65 seats in the National Assembly.
Meantime, questioned about APNU’s call for verification of some statements of poll, Persaud said that there is no legal basis for such a call. “That is not currently provided for in the law,” he said. He said that the PPP/C will only accede to such a request once the legal provisions that such a verification would have to fit in, are in place but the party will also insist that “a full recount (of the ballots) will have to be done.” Any verification has to be done in the context of Guyana’s laws and currently, the time for this has passed, Persaud noted.
AFC presidential candidate Khemraj Ramjattan said that APNU will have to use routes available to them. ”We are of the view that the election results having been announced, that is final,” he said. He recalled that the AFC, having been dissatisfied with the accuracy of the Region Ten ballots in the 2006 elections, had filed a petition.
If APNU wants to see GECOM’s statements of poll, they will have to make a request to the entity, Ramjattan noted. He said he was confident that Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman Dr. Steve Surujbally would be willing to provide copies of GECOM’s statements of poll and he would urge him to do so. “That could also be a useful thing to defuse tensions,” he said.
The AFC leader said that if upon checking, APNU found variation in the numbers, they could then use the procedure of the elections petition like the AFC did.
Ramjattan said that based on the numbers tallied by the party observers, although they did not cover the entire country, it reflects what GECOM has announced. “We have accepted the results and we have to move on,” he said.
Ramjattan also dismissed reports circulating that the AFC was joining with the PPP/C or is in “secret talks” with the APNU. “That is an absolute lie,” he declared in reference to the PPP. “We are not in any secret talks,” he said in relation to APNU. He stated that in any discussions the AFC would engage in, there would be transparency. He said that the only talks the party has had is Thursday’s gathering at the National Assembly with Ramotar and APNU’s presidential candidate, David Granger.
Ramjattan restated the AFC’s position on governance, noting that if there is a government of national unity, the party would participate and would want the other parties to be included as well.
Opposition coalition APNU and the AFC secured 26 and seven seats, respectively and will control the National Assembly, which would force the Ramotar administration to seek their support for major spending and to pass laws. It could also face a motion of no-confidence that could result in new elections at any time before the end of its five-year term.
