President reiterates, Gov’t wants local gov’t elections
Georgetown, GINA, July 14, 2014, Source
President Donald Ramotar told residents of Essequibo that the PPP/C must and will be prepared for any eventuality as he made reference to threats by the Opposition to pass a no-confidence Motion against him and his government.
Late last month, the Alliance for Change (AFC) said that it was in the process of preparing a no-confidence Motion in the Government, for which A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has signalled its support.
“Whether it is general elections or local government elections, we must be ready to win those elections in a decisive way,” the Head of State declared.
Turning his attention to the criticisms that the Government has been facing over the holding of local government elections, he said that as the Executive President, he wants these long-awaited polls to be held as early as possible. He noted that this is also the position of the People’s Progressive Party. This is one of the promises outlined in the Party’s 2011 manifesto.
The last local government elections in Guyana was held in 1994, it was slated to be held again in 1997; however that could not have happened since general elections was due at that same time. Additionally, in 1997, there was no elections commission in place.
The new Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) was set up in 2000 to run the general elections of 2001; it was headed by Major General (rtd) Joe Singh. After that elections, Singh retired and it took a couple of years to appoint GECOM’s current Chairman, Dr. Steve Surujbally.
In the interim, the constitution of Guyana was changed and with it came changes in electoral system under which local government elections must be held. However, the new process to be followed was not clearly outlined in the new constitution; instead it had to be a negotiated agreement among the political Parties.
During the negotiations with the then PNCR, agreements were reached on all of the areas deliberated on, but before the Bill was passed for the holding of the elections, then Opposition Leader, Robert Corbin requested former president Bharrat Jagdeo to stay the holding of the elections until after the general elections of 2011, a request to which the former president acceded.
Subsequently, with the new configuration of a one-seat majority Parliament, the entire political geography was shifted and many of the agreements that were reached prior to the 2011 elections were reneged on by the new Opposition.
President Ramotar said that, “they can pass a no-confidence Motion against me in the Parliament and if they do that then I will have to go to elections almost immediately, and If I can’t do that immediately, then I can create an even bigger constitutional crisis than what we have at this point in time.”
In February, the Opposition joined forces to pass the Local Authorities (Elections) (Amendment) Bill for the elections should be held before August 1, 2014, this Bill has not been assented to by the President since the Government was informed by the PPP/C Commissioners that GECOM was not in a state of readiness to hold the elections.
