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GECOM has no authority to remove Dr. Asha Kissoon from National Assembly
Leader of The New Movement party, Dr. Asha Kissoon
Kaieteur News – The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Wednesday made it clear that it has no authority to remove the leader of The New Movement Party (TNM) Dr. Asha Kissoon from the National Assembly.
In a statement, GECOM in response to a letter published in the Wednesday July 10, 2024 edition of the Stabroek News headlined, “What is Asha Kissoon still doing in Parliament?” said, “In light of the most recent newspaper publication, it must be categorically stated that GECOM has absolutely no authority to remove Dr. Asha Kissoon from the National Assembly.
“Article 156 of the Constitution of Guyana stipulates the conditions under which a Member of Parliament can be removed from the National Assembly and there is clearly no role for GECOM in this regard,” GECOM stated.
Further, the Commission said too that the matter is “actively being discussed at the level of the Commission and the outcome will be publicized upon conclusion of the discussions.”
In March, A New and United Guyana (ANUG) accused Dr. Kissoon of the New Liberty Movement (TNM) of refusing to give up her parliamentary seat as agreed to in a Memorandum of Understanding among ANUG, TNM and The Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) on March 2, 2020.
In a statement issued to the media, ANUG said that Dr. Kissoon should have relinquished her seat in Parliament on behalf of her party since November 2023 in keeping with the MoU she signed.
“Dr. Asha Kissoon duly assumed the seat in Parliament on behalf of TNM. If she intended to honour the commitment made by her in the Memorandum of Understanding, Dr. Kissoon should have resigned that seat in November 2023.”
ANUG reminded that the three parties agreed to merge the votes earned by them which was sufficient to take a seat in the National Assembly and to share occupation of the said seat in proportion to the votes they each secured.
“The result of the election was that LJP and ANUG, each with more than 2200 votes, would occupy the single seat won by the merger for the majority of the time, while TNM, with 244 votes, was entitled to occupy the seat for 91 days,” the statement said.
Notwithstanding, GECOM said that it has taken note of the public statements on the subject and reminded that it will continue to execute its constitutional mandate within the framework of the law.
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