Dear Editor,
I write in response to a letter by Christopher Ram, captioned “GECOM’s requirement of a minimum period of 148 days to hold elections is an admission of its incompetence” (SN: 03.18.2019).
Mr. Ram claimed the purpose of his letter was “to give a factual summary of the compliance or otherwise with the calling and holding of elections under the Constitution between 1997 and 2015.” In similar spirit, I wish to offer some additional facts pertinent to the issue.
Mr. Ram presented data on the period between the deadline for the dissolution of Parliament and the holding of elections since 1997. The problem is, he has not been honest in how he attempted to use the data. For instance, Mr Ram stated that in 2015, the period between dissolution and election was 72 days. What he did not say was that when confronted with a no confidence motion President Ramotar prorogued parliament on November 10, 2014 but did not dissolve parliament until February 28, 2015. Curiously, he announced the date of elections on January 20, 2015, some 39 days before he eventually dissolved Parliament. There was an obvious reason for this apparent procrastination by President Ramotar; he was buying time for GECOM to be ready. Even when GECOM issued a press release on January 08, 2015 stating, “The Commission now awaits the President’s announcement of the date of both elections, after “meaningful collaboration”…” Ramotar still delayed until January 20, a full 12 days later.
This allowed Gecom 110 days before dissolution and an additional 72 days after dissolution, to prepare. This is a total of 182 days, or six months and approximates to the 180 days originally estimated by GECOM as the required period for the preparation for elections
These are the facts Mr. Ram so cleverly left out of his letter, a clear intention to deceive. He cannot claim that he is unaware, because he wrote previously presenting these same facts on his blog. Why Mr. Ram decided to distort the facts is anyone’s guess.
Yours faithfully,
Julianne Gaul
