Legal

The seven-member Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Friday ended with no clear direction on whether house-to-house registration should be scrapped to pave the way for general elections to be held swiftly or it should be used along with another mechanism to create a voters’ list. “I hate to disappoint you again this afternoon but we have not reached any meaningful ...

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo on Wednesday believed that the governing coalition’s plot to “sanitise” his party’s supporters from the voters’ list has been foiled by a recent High Court ruling that no one can be removed from the National Register of Registrants. “They wanted to sanitise a lot of us from the list so when election day comes a lot ...

The Working People’s Alliance (WPA) on Friday said it gleaned that general elections could be held in December, based on the house-to-house registration schedule and preparations for the polls. Executive member, David Hinds said if the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) sticks to its calendar for house-to-house registration, which began on July 20, to be completed by October followed by claims ...

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Thursday did not discuss the implications of the High Court judgement on house-to-house registration and related matters because commissioners were yet to obtain a copy of the written decision by Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire, an elections commissioner said. Government-appointed elections commissioner, Vincent Alexander expected the seven-member body to meet again by Monday before GECOM ...

The Working People’s Alliance (WPA), a vocal member of the governing coalition, on Thursday urged the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) to agree to an extension of the deadline by which general elections ought to be held, in the wake of Wednesday’s High Court ruling that blessed the constitutionality of house-to-house registration. “The WPA calls on the PPP to acknowledge ...

Attorney-at-Law, Anil Nandlall on Thursday backed down from his plan to appeal Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire’s decision that house-to-house registration is not unconstitutional, saying that the case achieved the major objective of preventing the removal of thousands of persons from the National Register of Registrants. “In the circumstances, after a more mature consideration of the Chief Justice’s decision and after ...

Lawyers for Christopher Ram and the Guyana Elections Commission on Wednesday said they were prepared to appeal a High Court decision for different reasons, even as Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo claimed a legal victory that Guyanese cannot be removed from the National Register of Registrants and must be allowed to vote. Ram’s lawyers, Anil Nandlall and Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran ...

Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire on Wednesday ruled that house-to-house registration is not illegal or unconstitutional but she urged the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to consider other forms of verification. She also ruled that Guyanese previously registered and residing overseas could not be removed from the database named the National Register of Registrants. She said unless the persons change their addresses ...

The Guyana government would have to resort to using one-twelfth of this year’s national budget and would be unable to finance new projects if general elections are not called before yearend, Finance Minister Winston Jordan said. He said this year’s budget expires on December 31. “Come January, people will be paid their salaries and so on but you will not ...

Political uncertainty, including threats to review deals, has posed a setback in the sale of several Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) estates, Finance Minister Winston Jordan said Wednesday. “The sale of the estates has been delayed partly due to the political side because nobody is expressing interest when the opposition (People’s Progressive Party) says ‘we are going to review sales and ...