In light of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) finding that last December’s no-confidence motion against the ruling APNU+AFC government was validly passed, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday declared that the opposition would not accept a delay in the holding of elections beyond the next two to three months.
Jagdeo was at the time responding at a news conference, held at his office on Church Street, George-town, to President David Granger’s earlier address to the nation, in which he announced that it is essential that fair and credible elections are held and that this could not be achieved via the current voters’ roll.
During his address, Granger noted that Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman Jus-tice (ret’d) James Patterson had said that elections could be possible in November this year following a national house-to-house registration exercise and added that he would now await a recommendation from GECOM for a specific date and he would then issue a proclamation for general elections to be held.
However, Jagdeo said that Granger was disconnected from the reality of the constitutional rule. “The elections [are] now governed by the constitutional provision that has kicked in. Three months, it said, and that was three months since December. We are hoping that elections would be held within two months, maximum three, and that is being practical. One of the judges said you have to go between principle and practicality. Principle is elections should be held tomorrow, the practicality is two to three months from today,” Jagdeo noted.
He emphasised that a later date in the year would not be acceptable since Granger would be acting unconstitutionally and while in normal circumstances he would have had the power to declare a date for elections, the passage of the no-confidence motion removes that discretion from the president. “If the government thinks they are going to come and argue about November and October, well that’s not going to fly with us,” he added.
Jagdeo also said he is hoping that the international community will now take a strong position on the matter.
Jagdeo also emphasised that he had warned that the reconvening of Parliament by the government was premature given that the matters were still in the court and that the government has been illegal since March 21st. He said any business the government conducts after yesterday would be deemed illegal.
Jagdeo had said at Enmore last week that if the result were favourable then his party would hit the roads to force the government to hold early elections. However, he noted yesterday that the party is going to speak very little on the matter and the country would not see any major form of protest until the consequential orders are issued by the CCJ on Monday, since the PPP wants to “respect the decision of the court.”
He added that the ruling of the CCJ, which is in favour of the PPP, would see no gloating or triumphalist behaviour by the party.
“What we are very, very happy about is that the final court, the [CCJ] has just declared a victory for constitutional rule in Guyana and throughout this, all I want to recall is the behaviour of the PPP and contrast that with how others have behaved when serious matters of this nature [have] been adjudicated,” he said.
“I said, also, that whatever the outcome we have to work to rescue Guyana from this corrupt, incompetent cabal that manages only for itself. And so the opportunity has presented itself to all Guyana to free ourselves from this cabal in a shorter period,” he added.
The CCJ also ruled that the appointment by Granger of Patterson was flawed and unconstitutional and recommended that the opposition and government seek to reach consensus on the orders to be made by the court.
Jagdeo said the PPP will be engaging the government at the legal level to see that a consensus could be reached on the way forward.
He also noted that the party would be “dusting off all of our plans” and will go into “full elections mode” beginning today.
“We are only going to intensify the work, and this work, as I’ve said before, is not just for the PPP supporters. I don’t believe this is a victory only for the PPP’s supporters. This is a victory for Guyana and we will accelerate our work at the party level on this matter,” he said.
