After 15 months, the National Assembly met last Tuesday for the first time under the new Administration. This delay was due mainly to the following:
(a) Legal challenge of the Speaker’s ruling that the 21 December 2018 vote of no confidence in the Government was validly carried. The matter went all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) for its final determination;
(b) Undue delay in the appointment of the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). As in the case of the no confidence vote, it took the intervention of the CCJ to resolve the matter;
(c) Claims of GECOM’s lack of readiness to hold elections despite the fact that it had successfully done so in November 2018 in respect of local government elections; and
(d) Controversy over the house-to-house registration of voters. Judicial review was sought that resulted in the exercise being brought to a premature end.
