President Donald Ramotar yesterday floated the possibility of early general elections if sanctions against Guyana for its failure to pass anti-money laundering legislation hit hard, even as he took a hard line against giving concessions in the legislative process.
“It’s not that we don’t want local government elections but…there is a certain level of uncertainty. I don’t know what will happen if the impact of this anti-money laundering bill hits home very, very hard on our economy and whether we might have to go back and have another mandate,” he said, responding to a question from Stabroek News during a news conference at State House yesterday.
“This is something I don’t want. I would prefer to go to the local government elections, but I can’t shut my eyes to the political reality that exists and make a bland promise that I will go to local government elections tomorrow as I would have done [if] we had the majority in the parliament at this point in time. And we would not have been in the position that we are in today,” he said.