By Kurt Campbell

President Donald Ramotar.

[www.inewsguyana.com] – President Donald Ramotar has sunken the main political opposition – A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) – optimism of setting a date for the holding of the long overdue Local Government Elections (LGE).

This morning, the President told a room of over 200 Amerindian Leaders that it would be foolish of him to instruct his Minister to announce a date for LGE now.

He reminded of the pending No Confidence Motion against his administration, which once successfully passed, could trigger National Elections; pointing out too that both parliamentary political Parties, which together hold a majority in the National Assembly, have signaled their intention to support its passage.

“I will be rightly ridiculed by any right thinking person if faced with such a situation my Minister is to announce a date for local government elections,” he said.

He received a resounding applause when he told the gathering “we are not afraid of local government elections, we will win whenever they are held.”

According to the Guyanese Head of State, the problem is “that local government elections from 1994 were impeded by the Opposition up to 2010.

He said the political opposition voted year after year to postpone LGE and now that the arithmetic has changed in the House, where they hold a majority, they are pushing for it.

Yesterday, Opposition Leader, David Granger said he believes that his weekly protests in front the Office of the President is bearing fruit as he expressed his optimism that Ramotar will set a date for LGE in the first quarter of 2015.

Granger spoke of the recent meetings his Party and the President; noting that while President Ramotar has not committed to a date as yet, he is more prepared to name a date.

“I do believe that the government is more prepared now than before to name a date and we’re looking forward to such a date. I think there are consultations with the Guyana Elections Commission and there is some understanding that once the logistics are in place, we will have Local Government Elections,” Granger told iNews.

The Opposition Leader reiterated that the President will not postpone the elections for much longer.

“I do interpret from what he has said; he is not inclined to postpone the Local Government Elections much further. I am confident; we will get Local Government Elections hopefully by the first quarter of next year.”

He explained that if the pending No Confidence Motion is passed in the National Assembly, then there is no question that the General and Regional Elections will take priority.