President David Granger last evening cited March 2nd 2020 as the earliest date for general elections but did not issue a proclamation as is legally required and fuelled further doubts about the way forward when he insisted that Parliament must meet to grant an extension of the period for polls, a demand the opposition PPP/C had previously said was out of the question.
The PPP issued a statement last night accusing the increasingly beleaguered Granger of trying to blackmail the opposition and skewering the arguments that he presented but it did not explicitly say anything about attending Parliament.
In his brief address to the nation, Granger said that Parliament would meet on October 10th for the purpose of requesting an extension of the three-month period for the holding of general elections in the aftermath of a successful motion of no-confidence.
Article 106 (7) of the constitution says that “Notwithstanding its defeat, the Government shall remain in office and shall hold an election within three months, or such longer period as the National Assembly shall by resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the votes of all the elected members of the National Assembly determine, and shall resign after the President takes the oath of office following the election”.
Critics have said that with the upholding of the December 21, 2018 motion of no confidence against the government by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on June 18, 2019, general elections should have been held by March 21, 2019. With the appeals to the CCJ having put the timetable on hold, the CCJ in delivering its consequential orders on July 12 had said that a new three-month period had begun on June 18. This period expired on Septem-ber 18 without the government seeking an extension and observers say that it is debatable whether an extension can now still be granted by Parliament.
Noting that Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Justice (Rtd) Claudette Singh had written him on Thursday, 19th September 2019, indicating that GECOM “will be able to deliver credible elections by the end of February 2020”, Granger said that he met with his Cabinet.
“I convened a meeting of available Cabinet ministers that very day, within hours of receiving her advice, to discuss the timeline provided to me by the Chairman.
“A second meeting of the full Cabinet was held yesterday, 24th September 2019, when all members accepted the advice provided by the Chairman of the Elections Commis-sion”, Granger said.
He added that Cabinet ministers also benefitted from the advice of Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams and were “guided by the need to adhere scrupulously to the advice of the Elections Commission”.
He said that he also met the Chairman of GECOM yesterday afternoon when she discussed the statutory timelines for the upcoming General and Regional Elections.
The President then went on to explain how he arrived at March 2nd.
“Guyanese, Guyana will observe its 50th anniversary as a Republic on Sunday, 23rd February 2020. The following day, 24th February 2020 will be a national holiday.
“I am pleased to announce that, after discussions with Chairman of the Elections Commission and with my Cabinet, the earliest possible date for the holding of General and Regional Elections will be on Monday, 2nd March 2020”, he stated.
He contended that the extension of the period beyond three months for the holding of an election is related to the Elections Commission’s readiness to hold the elections.
“The Government of Guyana must, as a consequence, return to the National Assembly to request an extension. The National Assembly reconvenes on 10th October 2019”, he said.
The PPP, which has upped street protests over the election date, last night lambasted Granger and said it will provide more details on its position today.
“The illegal president, David Granger, ended yet another address to the nation with the Guyanese people being no clearer than they were before. His address has not given a definitive date for General and Regional Elections; rather he says: “…the earliest possible date for the holding of General and Regional Elections will be on Monday, 2nd March 2020.”
“His evidenced history of flip-flopping does not inspire confidence in anything that he says. Therefore, nothing short of a signed proclamation from him, declaring a date for General and Regional Elections, will be credible”, the opposition party declared.
The PPP said that Granger’s linking of a parliamentary extension of the life of his “illegal government” to the readiness of GECOM to hold Elections, by saying: “The extension of a period beyond three months for the holding of an election is related to the Elections Commission’s readiness to hold the elections. The Government of Guyana must, as a consequence, return to the National Assembly to request an extension”, is untenable.
“There is no valid link between these two issues. A return to the National Assembly is wholly unnecessary for him to discharge his constitutional duty to proclaim a date for Elections and dissolve Parliament, nor is it linked to a requirement for GECOM to be ready for Elections.
“The People’s Progressive Party … remains convinced that his call for a return to the National Assembly is an attempt to blackmail the Parliamentary Opposition into extending the life of his illegal government, so that he can secure some legal cover for the many illegal acts, including the approval of billions in contracts, which have been committed since the passage of the no-confidence motion on December 21, 2018. All of this is taking place as he grasps for some level of respectability”.
The party charged that the president remains the biggest threat to Guyana’s democracy. “He has failed to comply with the Constitution of Guyana and pushed our nation into unconstitutional rule without hesitation”, the opposition party declared.
Member of the governing coalition, the Alliance For Change (AFC) last night welcomed Granger’s announcement of March 2nd as the prospective date for elections.
“AFC’s position has been that it wishes to see Elections held as early as possible, while emphasizing the importance of maintaining public confidence in the process.
“The Party remains of the view that all constitutional requirements for the holding of these Elections are being followed by the Government of Guyana”, the party said.
It posited that the next constitutional requirement to be satisfied to ensure that Elections 2020 cannot be successfully challenged legally is an extension of the Election date by a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly.
“As such we urge the Opposition to give its support for the extension now needed for the set date”, the party said.
Granger prefaced his address yesterday to the nation on the election date by saying that his government, since the passage of the no-confidence motion in the National Assembly on 21st December 2018, had respected the decisions of the Courts and upheld the Constitution.
“We challenged the validity of the no-confidence motion and defended the challenge to the constitutionality of the appointment of the Chairman of the Elections Commission.
“The legal processes were neither frivolous nor aimed at delaying the consequences of the no-confidence motion. They sought to clarify and interpret the Constitution and to ensure that General and Regional Elections would be conducted on the basis of a credible list”, Granger said.
This narrative by the President has come under increasing attack locally and internationally. Last Thursday, the US, the UK and the European Union (EU) declared that the Granger administration was functioning unconstitutionally by not complying with the requirement to hold general elections by September 18 this year. A day later, the Bar Council of the Guyana Bar Association also said that the government was operating extra-constitutionally. On Monday, this view was also echoed by the Commonwealth Secretariat in a statement issued by its Secretary General Patricia Scotland. The Commonwealth’s criticism of the Granger administration is particularly damning as it puts Guyana at risk of being referred to the grouping’s internal disciplinary mechanism. Proceedings by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group could see a range of measures being taken against Guyana going as far as expulsion.
The US, UK and EU have also said that development aid to Guyana would be affected.
“This situation comes at great cost to the people of Guyana. The prevailing political uncertainty undermines Guyanese institutions, compromises economic opportunities and delays development across all areas including infrastructure, education, health, and social services. It also hinders our ability to support Guyana’s development needs.
“We therefore call upon the President to set an elections date immediately in full compliance with Guyana’s constitution”, the statement issued by their representatives here said.
The Private Sector Commission and a string of other organisations have called on the Granger administration to speedily convene general elections.
There has also been criticism of GECOM Chairman Justice Singh for stating the end of February 2020 as the point at which general elections could be held. It has been argued that Singh should have complied with the requirement for elections within three months of June 18 or a short extension of that period. The previous two general elections have been held within three to four months from the point at which elections were called. It has now been nine months since the motion of no confidence was passed against the APNU+AFC administration.
