Some of the PPP’s supporters protesting yesterday in Kingston, near the GECOM headquarters. They called once more for the holding of general elections and also urged against the holding of a national house-to-house registration exercise. See story on page 11. (Photo by Terrence Thompson)
July 20 2019
Several hundred PPP supporters congregated on High Street between Barrack and Young streets, in Georgetown yesterday and called on the Guyana Elec-tions Commission (GECOM) to prepare for general and regional elections instead of carrying out house-to-house registration.
House-to-house registration, which is intended to create an updated registration database from where the voters’ list will be extracted, is scheduled to start today. Opposition leader Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said that the PPP is contemplating legal action to prevent the exercise.
This is the second protest by the opposition following the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruling that the December 21, 2018 no-confidence motion against the APNU+AFC government was validly passed, in which supporters called for elections.
Supporters marched between Barrack and Young streets, where they regurgitated chants such as, ‘Call elections now!’, ‘Respect the Constitution!’, ‘Who must go? Granger!’, and ‘We want elections now,’ among others. They were prevented from protesting directly in front of GECOM’s Headquarters, which is also located on High Street. The crowd protested under the watchful eyes of the police.
The opposition is of the view that if GECOM proceeds with the previously scheduled house-to-house registration exercise, elections will be held in 2020 and the constitutional body will be operating in contempt of the CC’sJ rulings.
Subsequent to the ruling handed down by the CCJ on the no-confidence motion, the PPP is calling for elections to be held by September 18.
The picketing exercise saw the party’s leadership, including General Secretary and Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo and PPP Presidential Candidate Irfaan Ali, along with others, marching through the crowd and calling for an elections date.
Jagdeo told reporters yesterday that the PPP is considering filing contempt proceedings against Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield if GECOM moves ahead with house-to-house registration.
“…We don’t want to be caught up in a long legal battle again but we may file contempt proceeding [against] Lowenfield but not to go back and re-litigate what the CCJ (Caribbean Court of Justice) has already ordered,” Jagdeo said on the picketing lines before questioning the basis on which Lowenfield is moving ahead with the house-to-house registration.
According to him, the move by GECOM’s CEO is illegal.
During his address to supporters at the conclusion of the picketing exercise, Jagdeo said the PPP is serious about the activities on the ground but it will not prevent them from fighting against moves that are inconsistent with the law.
“…We need to track what’s going on the ground because if you don’t, they may tamper with certain things and we want to make sure we cover all angles so we win these elections overwhelmingly,” he told supporters.
The opposition leader said that the delay in the naming of an election date is viewed as a “pernicious process to undermine the Constitution all because of greed.”
“What you are doing here is not protesting for a PPP victory, you are protesting here to ensure the organs of this State, those vested with constitutional responsibilities, they carry out their functions in a timely manner and in accordance with the law. We have a duty to all of Guyana and those who are not here…,” he said to the hundreds of supporters gathered at Red House.
Ali, speaking briefly with reporters, said their demonstration was “in defence of the Constitution and out here in defence of the rule of law and doing our part in protecting democracy.” He contended that at this point, GECOM’s focus should be on preparations for regional and general elections in a legally-stipulated timeframe.
“House-to-house registration would not be completed in three months… and we are saying that GECOM must proceed to prepare for elections within that timeframe,” he said.
Ali questioned the rationale behind the decision to proceed to the registration exercise.
The CCJ recently ruled that a December 21st, 2018 no-confidence motion against the
APNU+AFC government, which was passed by the National Assembly, was valid, which means early elections have to be held according to constitutional stipulations.
“We saw in Stabroek News that the legal advice to Mr Lowenfield states that elections should be held in keeping with the CCJ [ruling]. I don’t know what it is the motive of Mr Lowenfield and why it is that he is blatantly ignoring orders of the CCJ and the Constitution,” Ali said.
He added that with the protest, the PPP was hoping that “this protest will have an impact and Mr Lowenfield himself will follow advice of his legal officer and hoping actions to be corrected, our focus is ensuring that our Constitution is protected, the rule of law is protected and democracy is protected.”
Further, PPP Chief Scrutineer Zulfikar Mustapha told reporters that the party has not been officially informed of the commencement of the house-to-house registration exercise.
He explained that they learnt of the commencement of the exercise through the media and their supporters on the ground.
“This is the first time in history where house-to-house has been planned by GECOM and they have not informed the party officially. I have been trying to make contact with [the] Chief Election Officer for the past three days but he is not answering his calls. During house-to-house elections, our party normally submit names of scrutineers but we don’t know what the position now is,” he said.
According to Mustapha, GECOM needs to abide by the Constitution and make preparations for an election.
GECOM’s decision to hold house-to-house registration, in his view, shows that the entity is “an accomplice with the government to delay the entire process.”
“We can’t have house-to-house [registration] now. We are in the period of no-confidence motion and the court has ruled. The court has clearly ruled that GECOM must abide by the Constitution. They were a part of the court hearing and are bound by the decision of the court,” he argued.
PPP executive Clement Rohee said that party supporters had congregated to raise their voice against GECOM’s move to conduct house-to-house registration.
“This here is their constitutional right and the people are protesting…the two leaders are exercising their constitutional rights to talk. So are the people. They have the opportunity here apart from social media to have their voices heard. The protestors are dealing with GECOM, who are going ahead with the house-to-house [registration],” he said.
“…The court has pronounced that we have three months in which to hold elections. If they go ahead with house-to-house, that is going to finish on Christmas day and then we will be going into elections three months or so. Mr Granger is having his own way…people voices must be heard,” Rohee said.
