PPP says Granger still to set Elections date - demands a signed proclamation as evidence that one has been set.

PPP says Granger still to set Elections date – demands a signed proclamation as evidence that one has been set.

Sep 26, 2019 News

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is not satisfied with the President’s statement yesterday on the holding of General and Regional Elections, that the earliest possible date is March 2, 2020.

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo

The Opposition asserted that President David Granger has left the nation no clearer than it was before.
Certain sections of the media have already reported that Election Day is March 2, 2020. It should be noted that the President’s statement did not explicitly say this.
The President has fielded severe criticism from some sections of civil society and the international community for not yet setting a date, since the Chair of Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), (ret’d) Justice Claudette Singh S.C. informed him on September 19 last of GECOM’s readiness.
The PPP has said that the “illegal” President’s statement is further evidence that he tends to “flip-flop”.
It demands a signed proclamation from Granger, declaring a date for General and Regional Elections, as the only credible evidence that one has been set.
In his statement, the President also linked the parliamentary extension he is requesting of the Constitutional deadline, from the PPP, to GECOM’s readiness. Several coalition members have, for some time, stated that a refusal by the Opposition to grant an extension would mean that it is frustrating the Constitution.
The PPP has rejected that there is any valid link between GECOM’s readiness and the extension of the Constitutional deadline, stating that his request is blackmail.
“A return to the National Assembly is wholly unnecessary for him to discharge his constitutional duty to proclaim a date for Elections and dissolve Parliament, nor is it linked to a requirement for GECOM to be ready for Elections,” it stated.
The party further asserted that the President is attempting to use an extension of the Constitutional deadline as a “legal cover” for illegal acts the party purports he has committed.
The party is of the view that this purported illegality includes the approval of billions in contracts. Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, has said that the PPP, if victorious in the upcoming elections, will consider those contracts illegally granted.
“President David Granger is a threat to Guyana’s democracy,” according to the PPP. It maintains that he has failed to comply with the Constitution, pushing the country into “unconstitutional rule”.