With neither the government nor opposition budging from their positions in relation to the holding of general elections, all eyes will now be on the High Court which will issue a ruling on house-to-house registration on Wednesday and the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) which will meet on the day after.
A meeting yesterday between President David Granger and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo ended with both sides maintaining their “existing positions” though they have agreed that GECOM is central to the elections process.
President Granger, who expressed the hope that GECOM Chair, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh will communicate to him the Commission’s position within a week, described the understanding with Jagdeo as a “zone of convergence.”
“We agreed that it is the Elections Commission which is central to this process; it is an electoral process; it is not a governmental process or parliamentary process. It is an electoral process, which is entirely in the hands of the Elections Commission,” the President was quoted as stating by the Ministry of the Presidency at the conclusion of the meeting which lasted for close to two hours.
According to the ministry statement, which was issued after the meeting, President Granger, who was accompanied by Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency Joseph Harmon, maintained that the Commission has to advise him of its readiness before a date can be named.
“I made it clear that it is impossible if not impractical for me, even though in the final analysis I have to proclaim a date, I could not do so without the advice of the Elections Commission,” he said, before adding that “We are looking to hear something, maybe in a week’s time.”
Jagdeo, who was accompanied by PPP/C presidential candidate Irfaan Ali, has indicated that if there is a “positive signal” government intends to move towards a resignation of Cabinet and the dissolution of Parliament, he would be willing to sit with Granger and discuss a possible extension of their tenure beyond September 18th.
“What should happen is what I asked the President to do- which he has not done – and is not willing to do, which is to issue a proclamation dissolving the Parliament, name a date for the elections consistent with what the Constitution says and then that is a positive signal to start the work and have the Cabinet resign… In that context, I don’t mind sitting down again, myself and Irfaan and talking about this,” he said. He added, “Right now, we have not made a decision on that because there is no date and there is no reasonableness on the part of the Government.”
The Opposition Leader maintained that elections are due by September 18 and that the current House- -to-House registration process will not yield a National Register of Registrants Database (NRRD) until February 2020, which is not a reasonable timeframe. He also noted that he clarified his position that in keeping with Article 106(6) the Cabinet should have already resigned.
He, however, described yesterday’s meeting as a start and expressed willingness to meet again.
“I think it is early and we hopefully will meet again sometime soon,” Jagdeo told reporters outside of State House.
The Ministry of the Presidency has since indicated that the next meeting is scheduled for after both the Chief Justice’s ruling scheduled for August 14th and the meeting of GECOM scheduled for August 15th.
According to Granger, this is at the request of Singh who asked to hear the judgment of the Supreme Court and meet with the members of the Commission.
“We feel that her request… was a reasonable one,” he said, while noting that the two sides are working towards a consensual outcome.
He, however, maintained that government’s position has not changed. Government has maintained that it will not resign since the Caribbean Court of Justice has issued no orders requiring it to do so and Article 106 (7) provides that it shall remain in office until an election. “We are pursuing a course that can guarantee a credible list and can be the basis of credible elections…We are working towards seeking common ground so that the Guyanese people can be assured that we would have credible elections in the shortest possible time,” he said.
