PPP hints at general election before no-confidence vote

Last Updated on Monday, 11 August 2014, 17:19 by GxMedia

The PPP’s headquarters- Freedom of House

General Secretary of the governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Clement Rohee on Monday hinted strongly that elections might be called before the National Assembly debates an opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion. 

He said calling the election before the debate, was under “active consideration” by the PPP-Civic- led administration. “It remains an option under active consideration,” he told a news conference, adding that the party would, among other things, gauge the mood of Guyanese. “All of these are factors that we have to take into consideration as we gird our loins in preparations for elections,” he said.

Rohee said that the decision would be made on several political and other considerations but he declined to divulge details.

The party’s Central Committee met on Friday, August 8, 2014 when President Donald Ramotar and Rohee made presentations on the way forward.

The PPP said it was continuing to engage the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to ensure that the list is not padded with ineligible voters. Party activists, he added, were being deployed to scrutinize the preliminary voters list during the current claims and objections period.

The elections management authority intends to produce a voters list that will be valid until January 31, 2015.

The General Secretary observed that the opposition has already exercised its option of presenting a no-confidence motion to the House for consideration mostly likely after the parliamentary recess would have ended on October 10.

The seven-seat Alliance For Change (AFC), which has sponsored the motion, has already secured the support of the 26-seat A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), to pass the motion.

Once approved, the President and Cabinet will have to resign but remain in office until the election is called within 90 days.

The opposition has said that government’s alleged unauthorized spending of GUY$4.5 billion from the Consolidated Fund on projects and programmes that have been already disapproved by the opposition-controlled House was a major reason for moving for a vote of no-confidence in the Donald Ramotar administration. Government has insisted that it has abided by the Constitution and the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act in spending the monies.

The AFC and APNU are also peeved that a number of its bills and motions have been ignored by the one-seat minority government, but the administration has argued that it is the Executive rather than the opposition that is running the country.