Supporters of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) mounted another protest action outside Parliament on Friday demanding that the Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, convenes a meeting with the Members of the Parliamentary Opposition to elect the Leader of the Opposition.

The Speaker has not called a meeting for the election of the Opposition Leader since the National Assembly was convened a month ago. He is now reportedly on overseas travel duty.

On Thursday, President Irfaan Ali expressed confidence that the Speaker will convene the meeting at an “appropriate time.”.

“There are three branches of Government – Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary – the Legislature within the rules, I am sure, would constitute the meeting at the relevant time to have the Leader of the Opposition elected – that’s in their domain,” the President told reporters.

With the WIN party now the main opposition in the National Assembly with 16 seats, its embattled Leader and Member of Parliament, Azruddin Mohamed, is likely to be elected as the Opposition Leader.

On Friday, Mr. Mohamed joined the protest just after attending his extradition hearing at the nearby Georgetown Magistrates’ Court. Along with his father, Nazar Mohamed, the 38-year-old billionaire businessman turned political leader, is facing an extradition request by the United States over an 11-count indictment on allegations of fraud, tax evasion and money laundering related to gold exports from Guyana and the purchase of a luxury sports car.

Speaking to his supporters outside Parliament on Thursday, Mr. Mohamed accused the Speaker of leaving the country’s political system in limbo by not setting a date for the election of the Opposition Leader.

“We are calling on the Speaker, stop being a slave for the PPP, and do the honourable thing, do the honourable thing. We have a Deputy Speaker; right now the whole country is in a limbo. Up to now, the whole country is in limbo,” Mohamed said as he addressed his supporters.

He said the Government is afraid of his leadership, and is colluding with the Speaker to stall his election. The Speaker was a candidate for the governing PPP Civic at the September elections.

“They are scared that is why they don’t want me to be the substantive Leader of the Opposition, because they know I unite all races. They know I have support from all races in this country, and they know that I will continue to hold them accountable every minute of the day and this is the problem for them, so they don’t want me to be Leader of the Opposition,” MP Mohamed said.

MP Mohamed said while the Opposition awaits the convening of the meeting by the Speaker, he will continue his work on the ground, engage with citizens on issues affecting them, while making the appropriate representation.

The 13^th Parliament was convened in early November with all Members of Parliament being sworn in. Although all Opposition MPs were present, and a request was made by WIN to have the meeting convened for the Opposition Leader’s election, the Speaker ignored the request.

Since then, the WIN party has written to the Speaker on the issue, and has also issued him with a pre-action letter, threatening legal action if the meeting is not convened within two weeks. The Leader of the Opposition is a Constitutional position.

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