Opposition Parliamentarian and former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall is accusing the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) of conspiring with the Government to delay the general and regional elections.
In a video shared on his Facebook page following the CCJ’s hearing on Monday, Nandlall said, “what is clear and what has been made clear today [Monday] is that GECOM and the Government are in a conspiracy to delay the elections.”
He was at the time referring to submissions made by Attorney General Basil Williams and GECOM’s attorney, Stanley Marcus to the CCJ on Monday.
With preparations already underway for house-to-house registration, Attorney Marcus informed the CCJ that a new list of electors will be ready until December 25th, pushing elections to January 2020.
This was a new date that surprised everyone, because the Chairman of GECOM, Justice (rt’d) James Patterson, had written President David Granger saying that house to house registration will be completed for there to be elections in late November.
“What is also abundantly clear is that the Government is mortally afraid of going to the polls and that by itself tells a whole story,” Nandlall said outside Trinidad based CCJ.
The Government is adamant that house to house registration, which will take months, is needed to create a credible list of electors while the Opposition is claiming that a simple claims and objections exercise will produce the same result.
“The GECOM system is very much ready,” Nandlall said noting that GECOM Commissioners meet on a regular basis.
The former Attorney General said the Government’s behaviour is that of “political dictators and people who are not prepared to embrace political democracy.”
Meanwhile, Nandall also sought to clarify what he said were misleading statements made by Attorney General Basil Williams, who informed the CCJ that the Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo is yet to respond to President Granger’s letter of invitation to discuss a way forward for elections.
Nandall, who is on the legal team representing Jagdeo at the CCJ, made it clear that the President invited the Opposition Leader to a meeting after the Monday court hearing.
According to Nandlall, this created “the impression that the Leader of the Opposition is guilty of some delay.”
