President’s announced election date gives GECOM sufficient preparation time- PPP GECOM Commissioner

Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 May 2025, 18:10 by Writer

Governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP)-aligned Guyana Elections Commissioner, Sase Gunraj on Tuesday said President Ali’s naming of September 1 as the date for general and regional elections gives the Commission sufficient time to prepare for the polls, despite opposition concerns.

“Generally, the spirit and letter of the Constitution provide for elections to be held within 90 days and I believe the naming of the date by the President exceeds 90 days so I have every confidence that they can be done and done effectively in that time,” he said when asked by Demerara Waves Online News.

The President has not yet dissolved Parliament or named Nomination Day.

Mr Gunraj gave the assurance minutes before going into a statutory Tuesday afternoon meeting of the seven-member commission that is expected to discuss a new work plan that the GECOM administration circulated on Monday, May 26, less than 24 hours after Dr Ali announced the date for the polls in his Independence Day address at the Flag Raising ceremony held Sunday night.

Mr Gunraj, an Attorney-at-Law, added that it is the President’s prerogative to call the date for general and regional elections, and so “I have no difficulty considering that work plan to ensure that it fits or accords with the date set by the President.”

Conventionally, the President announces an election date after he is informed by the GECOM Chairman that that election management authority is ready to run off the polls.

Opposition-aligned election commissioner, Vincent Alexander and his two other colleagues earlier Tuesday expressed concern that the new draft work plan trims several customary and statutory deadlines that could impact on having a free and fair poll.

“I prefer not to comment on that” when asked whether he was surprised by President Ali’s announcement of the election date against the backdrop of the existing work plan that was being discussed by the Commission.

“I do not know the basis upon which the President was advised by the Chairman of the Commission but I have no doubt that the period that is set out in various provisions of the Constitution – that is to say three months – must have factored somewhere in there,” he said.

Mr Gunraj said he did not examine the work plan in detail to ascertain whether a number of deadlines had been reduced.

“While recognizing that it’s the President’s prerogative to determine the election date, it is crass for him to have done so based on the purported Chairman’s guidance, which clearly misrepresented the CEO’s (Chief Elections Officer) projected date of September 22 and the fact that even the proposed date was still under consideration and not yet agreed,” Commissioner Vincent Alexander had told a news conference.