Elections

By GHK Lall After all the malingering, mongering, and mismanaging (of truths and expectations), this could be a case of 5 dates, 2 adversaries, and 1 election(s). The latter two are known; the first is like estimated childbirth: could be premature or overdue. Since elections are involved being right on time is out the window. Care has to be exercised ...

President David Granger appeared to be holding out for general elections in November after house-to-house registration despite a proposal by the United States’ Carter Center that could allow for earlier polls in August. “In the circumstances, I am instructed to inform you that His Excellency the President intends to shortly name a date for general and regional elections in Guyana ...

The United States’ Carter Centre on Wednesday proposed that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) activates existing legislation to remove the names of overseas-based Guyanese from the voters’ list, a move that could pave the way for General and Regional Elections to be held in August 2019. “This has surfaced and what the Carter Centre has sought to do is to ...

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo on Wednesday accused the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) of conspiring with the governing coalition to rig the general elections by replacing the current voters’ list through house-to-house registration. He told a news conference that the PPP would continue to pile pressure on the David Granger-led administration, through peaceful protests and legal action until he calls early ...

United States Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch Tuesday night cited the need for democracy and an independent civil society to sustain private sector growth and development. “Together with sound, democratic governance and an independent and active civil society, the private sector here has the opportunity to thrive and Guyana has the opportunity to become one of the wealthiest countries in ...

The Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), James Patterson, has informed President David Granger that general elections should be possible in November 2019 after house-to-house registration, but the opposition People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) elections commissioners said such a process is not grounded in law or policy. “In consideration of all of the above, the fulfillment of the various conditions ...

Britain on Monday called on Guyana’s political leaders to find a solution to resolve the looming political crisis as the 90-day timeframe within which General and Regional Elections should be held following last December’s no-confidence motion runs out on Thursday. British High Commissioner to Guyana Greg Quinn made it clear that he was not about to interpret this country’s constitution. ...

The Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) on Monday said the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) did not provide information to prove whether elections commissioner Robeson Benn’s claim that more than 90 percent of the workers there are Afro-Guyanese. The ERC also said Benn, who had first raised the issue and had triggered a complaint by his People’s Progressive Party (PPP) did not ...

By GHK Lall It does not appear that there is anything on which the government and opposition can agree regarding the elections machinery as a whole, and the state of elections readiness by GECOM. To repeat for emphasis: almost nothing, if absolutely not anything. So there is a hard, jarring standstill on most things, except the clashing rhetoric, which only ...

President David Granger and his government might remain in office as a matter of “necessity” if he does not first give into Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo’s demands to name an election date first before the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) support to extend the 90-day time-frame within which Guyanese must go to the polls, officials said. “The debate arises: what happens ...