Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has not officially responded to the president’s invitation to meet on the readiness of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to hold general elections and the requirement for funding.
On Thursday, Jagdeo told a press conference that “unless an election date is on the agenda, there will be no meeting.”
However, when contacted by Stabroek News yesterday, he said he was “weighing the merit” of an official response.
“I’m weighing the merit in light of the duplicitous action at GECOM [the Guyana Elections Commission],” he stressed, while citing claims by the PPP/C-nominated GECOM commissioners that government-nominated commissioner Vincent Alexander indicated that the second of two letters sent by the president to GECOM Chairman James Patterson superseded the first.
He also expressed concern that “GECOM, supported by APNU still wants to pursue house-to-house registration, totally disregarding the constitution.”
The letters in question were sent by President Granger to Patterson on February 25th.
In the first letter, Granger urges GECOM to begin preparations for polls and indicated that he would “seek the approval of the National Assembly to ensure that an agreement can be reached given both the constitutional requirement and GECOM’s capability.”
In the second letter, which acknowledges the existence of the first, the president requests to initiate consultations with Patterson on the readiness of GECOM for the conduct of general and regional elections in 2019. He also noted that GECOM, as a constitutional agency, would require a new appropriation of funds approved by the National Assembly for the conduct of the polls.
Minister of State Joseph Harmon has since said that the second letter was “aimed at finding out the amount of money needed to conduct credible elections.”
Further, Alexander told this newspaper that in his view the letters are complementary rather than contradictory.
“There were two letters which seem to be sequential, since the second mentioned the first. There is no contradiction in my mind. One says start preparations, the other says I want to consult with you on your preparations,” he said in an invited comment on Thursday.
On Monday, Granger invited Jagdeo to a meeting scheduled for next Wednesday.
According to the letter to Jagdeo, the president is seeking to consult on the National Assembly’s constitutional role in the present situation and GECOM’s readiness and requirement for funding to enable it to conduct general and regional elections.
Jagdeo, however, maintains that the constitution is clear on these two issues and, therefore, a discussion is unnecessary.
