Guyana in breach of Commonwealth Charter over no local gov’t polls

Khemraj Ramjattan

Alliance for Change (AFC) leader Khemraj Ramjattan may petition the Common-wealth Secretariat to compel the Guyana government to hold local government elections.

This follows a revelation in an address by UK High Commissioner Andrew Ayre that the withholding of local elections constitutes a breach of the Commonwealth Charter to which Guyana is a signatory. Ayre was speaking at a reception marking Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday on Tuesday night.

The High Commissioner told his guests, who included Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, that the failure of the Guyana government to hold local government elections was a “stain on Guyana’s international standing.”

He went on to say that “not only are the reasons given a clear breach of Guyana’s constitution,