Executive Member for the People’s Progressive Party and former Member of Parliament, Gail Teixeira believes the President needs to let good faith prevail and set a date for elections within 90 days.
Appearing on the online talk show, Globespan 24×7, Ms. Teixeira explained that the December 21 No Confidence motion against the government effectively put Guyana’s democracy to the test.
“This no-confidence motion has put Guyana to the test. It has withstood the legislature and three Courts. It is now time for the President to obey the Constitution”, Teixeira said.
She said since the ruling by the Caribbean Court of Justice, there have been no moves by the Government although it has said it respects the Court ruling. The PPP Executive Member accused the President of violating the Constitution by inaction and said Guyana may be heading towards a “pariah” state.
President David Granger has said that he respect the ruling of the Court but has also noted that he is committed to ensuring that the upcoming elections are free, fair and credible.
Teixeira believes that three months is sufficient time for elections to be called. However, WPA executive member and political scientist, Dr. David Hinds said i his view, six months would be more practical given the need for preparatory work by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
The WPA is one of the parties in the APNU+AFC coalition government. The coalition has been calling for house-to-house registration to sanitize the list of electors and generate a new list.
GECOM had indicated earlier this year that the house to house registration process would push the elections timeline to November. The Commission has been moving to begin the house to house registration process.
Teixeira questioned why the government was “perplexed” by the list which was used for local government elections late last year.
Local government elections are different form national and regional elections. There were different voters lists generated for the various local government areas for the local elections.
Dr. Hinds suggested that the coalition does not believe it can win with the “corrupted list” as it has been described by President David Granger.
“Both of you [PPP and APNU+AFC] all looked at the list. Your party [PPP] see that you can win with that list, the other one see that perhaps they could lose with that list… and y’all are clouding it in all kinds of legal this and legal that. It comes down to that”, he said.
Hinds believe there should be a meeting of the minds between the political leaders to move the process forward.
The President and the Opposition Leader are expected to meet later this week.
(Ravin Singh)
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