President Donald Ramotar is seeking clarification from Opposition Leader David Granger about his ultimatum on Tuesday for a date to be named by Monday for local government elections.
In a letter to Granger released yesterday by the Office of the President, Ramotar said “Unfortu-nately, the position represented in your letter and the positions expressed by your Party after my receipt of your letter are both ambiguous and contradictory.
“In the circumstances, before I can properly respond to your letter, I wish for you to clarify what precisely is your Party’s position.”
The President’s statement about ambiguity revolves around the view that the call for local government elections by the Opposition Leader conflicts with the planned opposition motion of no confidence against the Ramotar administration which if passed will lead to early general elections.
Granger has already said that there is no contradiction between the two. A statement on Wednesday from his opposition coalition said ”APNU wants to state clearly that our call for His Excellency, President Donald Ramotar to name a date and set the machinery in place for the holding of local government elections is in no way contradictory, but rather complimentary of our stated position regarding local democracy and respect for the Constitution of Guyana.”
Granger has said that if there is no response by Monday, APNU “shall be obliged to take any lawful action to mobilise national and international support in defence of local democracy, the Constitution and the rights of the Guyanese people”.
Observers say, Granger’s ultimatum piles further pressure on Ramotar and is a bid by APNU to inhabit some of the spotlight in the wake of the AFC-led motion of no-confidence. However, when Monday’s deadline expires without a suitable response from Ramotar then the onus would be on APNU to up the ante.
Observers say that if Ramotar was to name a date for local government elections as many stakeholders have been clamouring for, it would have an impact on any early elections. The motion of no-confidence might have to be withheld until local government polls are held. This in itself, observers say, would not dissuade the opposition from eventually moving ahead with the motion of no-confidence. However, this scenario is unlikely as the observers say the PPP/C government is irreversibly set against local government elections before general elections.
In the meanwhile, the government still has to bring a bill to officially postpone local government elections as the bill to facilitate this was not assented to by the President.
