President to name date for elections ‘shortly’

President David Granger has informed Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo via a letter that he will be naming a date for General and Regional Elections “shortly.”

According to the letter, written by Minister of State Joseph Harmon on behalf of the President and dated March 20, the elections date will be announced within the framework provided by the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

The constitutional deadline for the holding of elections ends today (Thursday, March 21, 2019) following the passage of the December 21 No-Confidence Motion against the Government as the Constitution declares that election should be held within three months after the motion has been passed.

GECOM Chair, Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson on March 19 informed the President that the Commission will be in a position to hold elections “no earlier than late November” after the completion of the ongoing House-to-house registration exercise.

However, officials of the Carter Centre this week suggested that the Commission sanitise the current voters list instead of conducting House-to-house registration. This will afford GECOM to hold elections earlier.

The GECOM Chair also informed the Head of State that $3.5B is needed to hold successful elections.

The High Court is set to rule on three cases challenging the No-Confidence motion on Friday.