Jagdeo: We will never accept March 2020 timelines -countrywide protests to resume
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) commissioners from both of the country’s leading parties on Friday announced that March 2020 would be the earliest possible time for General and Regional Elections.
But Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo said that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) “will never accept the March 2020 timelines.” The Opposition has been constantly calling for President David Granger to name an early date for the elections, following the July 18th ruling from the Caribbean Court of Justice(CCJ), which deemed the December 21, 2018 noconfidence vote (NCV) as valid.
Jagdeo strongly believes that the general elections can be held before year end by extracting from the National Register of Registrants (NNR) Preliminary List of Elections (PLE), and then to a claims and objections period. But he claims that the government is delaying the elections.
“Those who are not on the old voters’ list can be registered; people can do their transfers, then they compile the revised voters list; they have the fingerprinting sent abroad for cross-matching and see we don’t have any duplicates, and then produce the official list of electors.” He said that the government is mortally afraid of elections they are terrified.
“The secretariat of GECOM seems to find a happy coexistence with the APNU commissioners at GECOM. It is uncanny how the documents they prepare for discussion at the commission level, how closely they reflect the position of Congress Place and the three APNU commissioners,” the Opposition Leader said. Jagdeo related that a proposal was submitted some two weeks ago, by the PPP commissioners to GECOM, which stated that the elections could be held before the year was complete.
However, he complained, the APNU’s commissioners are “meeting to argue” and this has caused further delays. He noted that following the appointment of the GECOM Chairman, Justice Claudette Singh, the party ceased all protests, with the aim of allowing the chair to “familiarize herself with her office and what’s going on.” However, he said that after the CJ’s ruling on September 18, the party will continue their widespread protests as the Coalition Government only understands that language.
(Kaieteur News)