Attorney General Anil Nandlall has made it clear that the work of the Guyana Elections Commission in preparation for the September 1 General and Regional Elections, will proceed with or without Opposition Commissioners.

Mr. Nandlall’s statement comes after an Opposition GECOM Commissioner, walked out of a schedule Commission meeting on Tuesday alleging that they were informed that several critical electoral issues raised in the previous meeting were not included on the agenda.

The meeting then came to an end due to a lack of quorum.

Speaking during his weekly “Issues in the News” programme, Mr. Nandlall said the Opposition Commissioners appear to have hatched a plan to delay GECOMs work in preparation for the upcoming elections.

‘So, Charles Corbin, Vincent Alexander, and Desmond Trotman are engaging in their regular form of conduct, they are attending the meeting and then they are walking out to make it inquorate, they are denying the meeting of a quorum. Fortunately, the law is a great institution and the constitution itself provides that when they unreasonably withhold their presence from a meeting and absent or withdraws without just cause, the meeting stands adjourn until two Callender days,” the Attorney General explained.

Mr. Nandlall said that the Opposition Commissioners will not hold the Elections Commission at ransom. He said the Constitution provides for an alternative quorum, where the Chairman along with three other Commissioners can quorate to hold a meeting, two callendar days after the first one was adjourned.

He said the issue of calling a meeting without all Commissioners present is expressly set out in Article 226 (5) of the Constitution.

“So that is what would have to be activated and we activated it many times during the 2020 election process and even before the elections because this was their behaviour, it is all part of their undemocratic culture and these are the ones who want to persuade you, that they are the champions of democracy,” Mr. Nandlall noted.

The Attorney General said while the Opposition Leader continues to say that his party is ready for General Elections, his Commissioners are actively trying to stymie the work of the Commission.

But an Opposition GECOM Commissioner has explained at the start of yesterday’s meeting, the GECOM Chairman called for the minutes of a previous meeting as the first item.

When one of the Opposition Commissioners queried as to why the promised items were not on the agenda, the GECOM Chair reportedly responded that the Attorney General had not yet responded with his advice on those matters.

The GECOM Chairman renewed her promise to have them on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting. It was at that point, the Commissioner said, Commissioner Trotman stated that they should have been on the agenda in any circumstance for a status report and that since they were not , he was unprepared to be part of a meeting where unimportant matters not related to elections were being brought forward instead of elections related matters.

The Opposition Commissioners have said they are prepared to deal with issues related to the upcoming elections, but based on the Chairman’s statement, she is still awaiting advice from the same Attorney General, who is now accusing the Opposition Commissioners of stymying efforts to discuss specific issues.

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