The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has said that it will be ready to conduct General and Regional Elections by the end of February 2020.
In a letter of yesterday’s date to President David Granger, retired justice Claudette Singh who chairs the commission noted that she was cognizant of the fact that both the President and the Nation have been anxiously awaiting information on GECOM’s readiness to conduct credible elections in the shortest possible time.
Deciding to forego specifics she therefore informed that “given all the objective factors, in addition to the deliberations of the Commission and my most recent consultations with our Secretariat, I have concluded and take this opportunity to officially inform you that the Guyana Elections Commission will be able to deliver credible elections by the end of February 2020.”
President Granger has since publicly acknowledged receipt of the letter and indicated that he will meet with Cabinet on the matter.
“I have received a letter from the Elections Commission Chairman and I shall be meeting my Cabinet in a few minutes time to discuss that letter,” he told reporters outside a luncheon hosted by the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association.
He stressed that he would not discuss the contents of the letter until after he had met with Cabinet. Up to press time no information on the results of this meeting were available.
Granger dismissed claims that his government breached the constitution by failing to hold elections on September 18, three months after the June 18 decision of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) that validated the December 21 No confidence motion.
“The constitution is clear on the functions of the commission. I would be in a more grievous breach if I try to intrude or interfere in the work of the commission,” the President stated.
Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo meanwhile said he was surprised and disappointed that elections would not be held in 2019 especially after the Chair told both Parliamentary parties that the commission was working towards a date long before the end of the year.
“What bothers me most is that APNU and Congress Place seems to have gotten their way,” the opposition leader lamented while claiming that his party’s intelligence sources have told them the plan was to have elections after Mashramani so that government could “bring in an artiste and spend millions on tickets for persons”
According to Jagdeo elections could’ve been held by December 16 but the opposition-nominated commissioners refused to submit a timeline as requested since they have submitted it four times before and they were intent on thwarting more delay tactics.
“Had they submitted [the timeline] even the February date would not have happened. The commissioners would’ve said we need two weeks to study the PPP’s proposal and we would’ve had another delay,” he declared.
Following Tuesday’s meeting commissioners Sase Gunraj and Charles Corbin were to make presentations on Wednesday towards determining the date on which elections will be held.
Corbin, who proposed a March 2020 date for elections had presented a work programme which removed the encoding of House to House data from the critical path.
As part of the proposed programme the secretariat would be able to proceed to claims and objections, and a preliminary list while the encoding continues.
“The information being coded would not be holding up the process,” Commissioner Vincent Alexander told media while describing the process.
On Wednesday, Gunraj made no presentation but insisted that elections could be held in November.
The GECOM Chair has not made public the timelines which informed her decision of the end of February for elections. The date she has provided is seen as a breach of the letter and spirit of the constitution which requires elections in three months of the successful passage of a motion of no confidence. The motion of no confidence was passed on December 21st last year. On June 18 this year, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) stressed that the constitutional provisions mandating general elections in three months were in effect. September 18 has now passed without elections raising further questions about the standing of the government and parliament. Questions have also been raised about the Chair’s slow movement on a timetable for general elections since her appointment on July 29th. She replaced retired Justice James Patterson whose appointment by President Granger had been found by the CCJ to be unconstitutional.
