President David Granger is hoping that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) will inform him, within a week, when it will be ready to host General and Regional Elections (GRE).
“The President is hopeful that Chairman of the Elections Commission Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, SC, CCH, would communicate the Commission’s position to him in a week’s time,” a statement from the Ministry of the Presidency noted.
President Granger earlier today met with Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo where they shared their respective views on elections and related matters.
The Head-of-State maintained his position that he will not announce a date for elections unless he is advised by GECOM.
GECOM is slated to meet as a full commission on August 15 – after Guyana’s High Court is set to rule on whether the Elections Commission should proceed with the ongoing house-to-house registration exercise.
Elections ought to have been held since March 21, 2019 – following the passage of the no-confidence motion against the government on December 21, 2018.
This position was made clear when the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) upheld the passage of the motion and ordered that GECOM and the President comply with the Guyana Constitution.
But notwithstanding, GECOM went ahead and began preparing for house-to-house registration, an exercise which could see elections being held until next year.
According to President Granger, he will only announce an elections date until he is advised by GECOM.
“Everything hangs on what we are told by the Chairman speaking on behalf of the Commission,” the President said while remaining optimistic that the Commission will communicate with him next week.
“We are looking to hear something, maybe in a week’s time. At the same time, I would like to assure the public that the meeting today with the Leader of the Opposition was important and beneficial. It helped to clarify issues which still exist within the two sides. There has been no agreement but greater clarity on the positions of the two sides,” President Granger said.
The two sides have agreed to meet again after both the Chief Justice’s ruling scheduled for August 14 and the meeting of the full Commission.
