Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday maintained that elections must be held within three months in keeping with the constitution, while insisting that the national house-to-house registration exercise being demanded by government is unnecessary and a ploy to hold on to power.
“So we will insist on elections being held within three months consistent with our constitution and when I meet with President [David] Granger that is a non-negotiable,” Jagdeo told a press conference yesterday.
Jagdeo also ruled out the possibility of the opposition returning to the National Assembly to extend the life of government.
Jagdeo made these remarks in response to the December 25th timeline given by Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) attorney, Senior Counsel Stanley Marcus, for the finalisation of a credible voters’ list after a house-to-house registration process.
Since the ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice last Tuesday, when it upheld the validity of a no-confidence motion that was passed against the government, which requires the holding of elections in three months, both sides have been arguing over the necessity of a new registration process. The CCJ also found that the appointment of retired judge James Patterson as GECOM Chairman was unconstitutional.
At a press conference, called some two hours after the CCJ heard arguments on consequential orders on the no-confidence cases before it, Jagdeo insisted that the December 25th date had no credibility and was way outside of the constitutionally-set deadline.
“It has no credibility whatsoever. This is the PNC and the now illegal chairman speaking there…Remember we were told November. It’s a shifting timeline for them and trust me if we go to house-to-house, it’s not going to even be December, it’s going to be forever because the cabal over there they are fearful of elections. This government fears elections. They know what’s going to happen,” he said when asked to respond to Marcus’s announcement.
Speaking to reporters outside the Court of Appeal, where local attorneys participated in the CCJ proceedings via video conference, PPP-nominated elections commissioner Sase Gunraj said that it was the first time he was hearing about the December 25th date. “It is new to me because …GECOM has an obligation to be ready for the holding of elections,” he said before adding that Marcus’ pronouncement had left him astonished.
“In fact, my astonishment grows because I am not sure who is instructing him from the Guyana Elections Commission because since the 4th of June, 2019, the commission has not met [and] prior to that the commission, as a whole, did not meet or discuss the appointment of Mr. Marcus as counsel for the commission and I am not sure who is instructing him. So that sense of uncertainty makes me wonder if he is being deliberately misinstructed or he is just misinstructing himself,” he said.
He noted that when the commission met in January, there was an active list and therefore elections could have been held then. “No steps, despite the most stringent and repeated demands for us as commissioners to take steps to refresh that list to ensure that it is in a state of readiness to hold elections, absolutely no steps were taken,” he said.
In fact, Gunraj said, the report the commission received from the Secretariat was that those steps were overtaken by events. Those events, however, are unknown. “We are now sitting here hearing that the President of the Caribbean Court of Justice is asking why we are not ready to hold elections and that falls squarely at the foot of GECOM,” he said.
When asked about Marcus’ December 25th date, Attorney General Basil Williams SC told reporters outside the courthouse that this was made under the guidance of GECOM and it was the anticipated date which will allow the commission enough time to do what it has to do. He stressed that nearly half a billion dollars has already been spent on preparing for the house-to- house registration, so “it’s just to deliver the rest.”
This point was emphasised repeatedly by Williams during the proceedings, which were plagued by technical glitches. These technical difficulties resulted in the Court of Appeal being without audio for about 20 minutes during yesterday’s hearing. Those viewing the proceedings on the CCJ website were not affected.
Williams insisted that Article 106 (7) governs 106 (6) and, therefore, the Cabinet and the government shall remain. He said, too, that the president does not leave office until an election is held and a new president is sworn in.
‘Illegal’
Meanwhile, Jagdeo reiterated that house-to-house registration is not necessary, while noting there was none before the 2015 polls.
Government has said that the list is bloated and in order to remove the names which ought not to be there and include the names of youths who have attained the age of 18 since the last elections, house-to-house registration has to be held.
However, Jagdeo disagreed. “It’s absolutely false, a fallacy to claim that house-to-house registration is a necessity for preparing a list to go to general and regional elections. That’s false. We have had two local government elections after 2015 and we prepared valid electoral lists that none of the parties have complained about and we did not have a house-to-house registration to prepare those lists. So, it is an absolute lie to say that house-to-house is a necessity before the elections [and] that the law demands it” he added.
Jagdeo insisted that during a claims and objections period, persons not on the list can get on. “During that period, they can correct any errors on the voters’ list. They can then object to people who are not on the list. All of this can be done in the claims and objectives period,” he said.
During this period, he added, those who were previously registered at age 14 and are now 18 can be extracted and added to the voters’ list. “That’s the way of cleansing or updating the list. It’s a credible way,” he stressed.
He insisted that based on last Tuesday’s ruling of the CCJ, government has been illegal since March 21st.
“So from now until those elections are held, the government will remain illegal and, therefore, all the acts that they commit, anything that they do that… is outside of the holding of the elections would be deemed illegal by a new PPP government,” he stressed.
‘No Chairman’
Jagdeo also voiced his disappointment that the court was unable to make the consequential orders but said that he is very much interested in meeting the President, particularly as it relates to Patterson’s appointment.
“We will be open-minded in the discussions with the President but there are some red lines we are not going to cross and one is about the respect for the constitution and, two, that this Chairman has to demit office; he is already unconstitutional,” Jagdeo said.
Jagdeo said the court has clarified that Patterson was unconstitutionally appointed and he should not make any decision in relation to elections. “He is a former judge and if decency prevailed by now he should have demitted office but he continues to hang on there, although the highest court of Guyana has ruled that his appointment was unconstitutional and illegal,” he added.
He said the government has had a “six months’ grace” so far and therefore the opposition is not going to tolerate any continuous violation of the constitution.
On the issue of the non-resignation of Patterson, Williams insisted that this matter will be addressed when the time comes. He said based on the decision of the court, “there is no Chairman.” Attorney Robert Corbin, who is part of the government’s team, added that in the circumstances there is no need for Patterson to resign.
GECOM has a meeting scheduled for today but up to press time last evening there was no indication whether it would be held.
Asked whether he will acknowledge the presence of Patterson should he attend, Gunraj said that he is unsure whether the commission can properly meet because “there is a judgement.” He added that the consequential orders are “just what they say, consequential orders. There is already a ruling… [and] as reiterated by the President this afternoon, there is no Chairman,” he said before explaining that it is the responsibility of the Chairman to call meetings and he questioned who calls and chairs a meeting in the absence of a Chairman. “There can’t be a meeting without a Chairman,” he stressed.
