Following a meeting yesterday with his Cabinet, President David Granger is expected to announce a date for general and regional elections today.
A statement from the Ministry of the Presidency yesterday said Granger and the Cabinet discussed the holding of credible general and regional elections in Guyana at the earliest possible time.
The statement added that President Granger will address the nation this evening at a time to be advised.
It is expected that the President will name a date for general elections given that he has been advised by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) of its readiness to hold elections at the end of February next year.
The GECOM Chair, retired judge Claudette Singh, last Thursday indicated to the President, via letter, the commission’s readiness and since that time both domestic and international pressure has been place on Granger to name a date.
Hours after Singh’s letter was made public, the US, the UK and the European Union lamented that the government is in breach of the Constitution and noted that this would hinder their ability to support Guyana’s development needs.
Additionally, Common-wealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland on Mon-day urged the Presi-dent and “all relevant stakeholders and institutions” to restore constitutional rule in Guyana by immediately setting an early election date in consonance with [the] constitution, enabling elections to be held without further delay.
Further, the Bar Council of the Guyana Bar Association also noted that following the passage of September 18, government was operating outside the rule of law while the Private Sector Commission and some other civil society bodies have urged the president to name a date.
The opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has since Thurs-day also been staging protests wherever the president appears urging him to name a date.
Early elections have been due as a result of the passage of a no-confidence motion against the government since last December. Although government had initially accepted its defeat, it did an about face and an unsuccessful legal challenge to the validity of the motion was mounted.
