[www.inewsguyana.com] – President Donald Ramotar in an address to the Nation on Tuesday February 24, announced that he has signed the official declaration that will see Parliament being dissolved on February 28.
The move to dissolve parliament will end weeks of speculation about the President’s failure to dissolve Parliament even though he is constitutionally mandated to do so.
According to Guyana’s constitution, Parliament is to be dissolved within three months of the hosting of General and Regional elections. Elections are set to be held on May 11.
“Earlier today I issued the Proclamations that identifies 28th February, 2015 as the date of the Dissolution of the 10th Parliament of Guyana and the Ten Regional Democratic Councils,” said President Ramotar.
According to the President, Parliament was not dissolved at the time the elections date was announced because the Claims and Objections exercise planned by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) would have been shortened.
“I did not dissolve the Parliament at the same time because had I done so, the claims and objections period which also allows for transfers would have been truncated. Were the latter to have occurred, thousands of Guyanese voters who changed their place of residence would not have been able to obtain their transfers and this could have led to them being disenfranchised,” said the President.
On November 10, 2014 Ramotar had prorogued Parliament in order to avoid facing a No Confidence Motion brought against his government by the Alliance For Change (AFC).
As a result of the combined Opposition’s failure to participate in dialogue, the President decided to call early elections.
