Political analyst recommends mass protest to force elections date

By Zena Henry

Political analyst and former Presidential Advisor, Ramon Gaskin, has called for Guyanese to engage in mass protest action to force the holding of General Elections. The Russian-trained Attorney and Consultant believes that peaceful demonstrations should be a daily feature to demand General Polls from, “this currently illegal government.”

Gaskin reiterated to Kaieteur News yesterday, that the government is “illegally holding on to power,” and that President Donald Ramotar’s move to prorogue (close Parliament) the National Assembly also constitutes an illegality.  In this light, Gaskin opined that citizens should show their disgust and demand a date for elections.
President Ramotar had reasoned that in a bid to save the work of the Tenth Parliament he had no choice but to prorogue the House of Assembly, since the Combined Opposition; A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change (AFC) were bent on a vote of no-confidence against his Administration.
But Gaskin believes that the President illegally prorogued Parliament since he did not do it under normal circumstances. The prorogation of Parliament means that there are no sittings or discussions in the House, and that the majority holding Opposition is unable to represent its supporters in Parliament.
Gaskin said that the Opposition’s intent to vote the Ramotar-led Administration out of power is a clear indication that the government has lost the confidence of the National Assembly, but they (opposition) were denied the right to physically express it when Parliament was closed. He said that prorogation is a “reserved right” of the President, but this right could only be used under normal circumstances and “not when the House has no confidence in your Administration and is seeking to vote you out.”
Gaskin reiterated that Under Article 106 (6) of the Constitution, it states that “The Cabinet, including the President, shall resign if the Government is defeated by the vote of a majority of all the elected members of the National Assembly on a vote of confidence.” In this case Gaskin charged the President cannot use his right to prorogue, to obstruct the work of Parliament stated by the Constitution.
He reasoned therefore that the government itself is also illegal. “They are all (government) illegal,” he told the newspaper. He said that all opposition parties should therefore, “declare the President’s action illegal and declare the government illegal also.”
He said they should also demand that the President give an election date “forthwith”.

In Article 106 (7) of the Constitution, where it says “…the National Assembly shall by resolution, supported by no less than two thirds of the members, determine and shall resign after the President takes oath of office following elections,” Gaskin emphasized that ‘shall’ in this case, makes it mandatory for the Government to resign if it is defeated.
He said also that while 106 (7) also speaks of the ‘resolution,’ the government cannot claim that there was none, since the President was the one to prorogue Parliament and prevented any further work of the National Assembly.
“I would support any peaceful protest,” Gaskin charged. “I support peaceful action to force this government to call elections and to stop fooling around.”
In December 2014, President Ramotar said he would be setting a date for elections this year. He gave no specific time as to when this would be done. Prior to that, President Ramotar had warned the opposition that should they go ahead with the no-confidence vote he would close Parliament.
With no indication from the Opposition parties that they would back off of the no-confidence vote, the President prorogued Parliament a week after his warning. He then hoped that the Opposition would have discourse during what he called Parliament’s ‘cool out’ period.
A frustrated opposition declared and maintained no talks outside of Parliament. They gave stern warnings however that the government should not enter into any projects during prorogation since they would be unable to monitor what was happening.
Many members of the international community have expressed concern about President Ramotar’s actions, while urging him to set an election date soon.