Elections

Parliamentarians, who are dual citizens, would first have to be replaced before the National Assembly considers an extension of the 90-day deadline for holding general elections or monies for those polls, a public forum heard Wednesday night. Organised by the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre and held at Red House, the panel discussion on the topic “Is Guyana heading towards a ...

Former House Speaker, Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran Wednesday said the government and the opposition should agree to an election date and pave the way for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to begin polling preparations. “The solution to the problem is to have an agreement with the Leader of the Opposition for a date for elections – maybe an extended date. ...

The Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM) governing Coalition-nominated commissioners stayed away from a meeting of a fact-finding mission from the Carter Center, on the grounds that they first wanted to ensure government had approved of that non-governmental organisation’s visit to the country. Elections Commissioner Vincent Alexander argued that there was precedence even in the case of the United States Agency for ...

Even as Guyana’s opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP)-nominated elections commissioners signaled that some progress has been made, their governing Coalition counterparts are adamant that house-to-house registration is the only means to sanitise the voters’ list of dead persons and emigrants. PPP-backed Commissioner Robeson Benn told Demerara Waves Online News that the elections could be held soon with a claims and ...

The US-based Carter Center has dispatched a fact-finding mission to Guyana at a time when the Government, the Opposition and their election commissioners are at a stalemate over giving the go-ahead to prepare for general elections. Earlier Monday, the Carter Center mission met with the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, James Patterson and the ...

Guyana’s Attorney General Basil Williams has asked the Court of Appeal to keep President David Granger and his Cabinet in office until a decision is reached on whether to overturn or uphold a High Court ruling that the no-confidence motion was validly passed. Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire in January also refused an application by Williams for a stay of her ...

Guyana’s Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield on Friday ruled out General Elections being held by March 20, 2019, saying that he has been awaiting the green light since January to begin preparations. “Today is the 8th (of January). You haven’t said anything to me yet. If you communicate to me, I move,” Lowenfield told a news conference. Deputy Chief Elections ...

Guyana’s main Opposition People’s Progressive Party Leader Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday left the door open for extending the three-month deadline by which general elections should be held. Jagdeo told a news conference that “only if I see good faith measures” on the government’s part would he lend his party’s support to the ruling coalition for a two-thirds parliamentary approval of ...

As Guyana’s elections campaign slowly heats up, the use of State resources is again taking centre stage after the governing coalition and the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) were seen using materials funded by the public purse. The Alliance For Change (AFC), the coalition partner, and the PPP on Wednesday defended their decisions to do so. Last week Saturday, AFC ...

General Secretary of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), Joseph Harmon on Wednesday filed two appeals challenging Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire’s decisions that the no-confidence motion was validly passed by the National Assembly last December. In the first case, Harmon enjoined private citizen Compton Reid against House Speaker Dr. Barton Scotland, then government parliamentarian Charrandas Persaud who voted for the ...