Parliament is not in lawful existence – former Speaker Ramkarran

The Parliament of Guyana is not in lawful existence and should be dissolved now and elections called, former Speaker Ralph Ramkarran declared Wednesday afternoon.

He said house to house registration, which will drag on for months and put elections to late November, is not feasible.

Ramkarran, speaking at a press conference, said that everyone who is 18 years and older can be extracted from the National Register of Registrants and used to produce a new voters list.

That register is the one in which everyone 14 years and older is eligible to be registered and receives a national ID card.

Ramkarran said, as has always been done, a Claims and Objections period can be used to clean the list of persons who have died or have migrated.

And so, he said a clean list can be put together and elections held at the soonest.

“The Parliament should have been dissolved” shortly after the No Confidence motion, Ramkarran stated.

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruled that the December 21 No Confidence motion was validly passed.

The Constitution demands that elections are held in three months once such a motion is passed. The deadline can only be extended by a Parliamentary vote.