—Jagdeo tones down call for polling date – Will Appeal to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo Friday night appeared to tone down calls for President David Granger to announce an early election date after Guyana’s Court of Appeal ruled that the no-confidence motion was not validly passed.
He, however, said his People’s Progressive Party (PPP) would continue to demand that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) be in a state of readiness for early polls because the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) could soon decide whether Friday’s decision by the Appeal Court that last December’s no-confidence motion needed 34 instead of 33 votes was valid.
“We will continue to argue for GECOM to be prepared for early elections because there is a great possibility that this adverse ruling could be overturned at the CCJ and if its overturned there and they are not prepared, then that would mean further delays in Guyana in conducting elections so we would be pressing for GECOM to continue their preparation for early elections,” Jagdeo said in a video release.
He said if the CCJ upholds the Guyana Court of Appeal’s calculation, then there would be no election.
He also registered his concerns about the majority decision by the Court of Appeal that the no-confidence motion was not validly passed by 33 of the 65 votes in the National Assembly.
“No strange logic, no strange mathematics can change what is in the Constitution. The Constitution says the majority of all elected members of the National Assembly – and there are 65 of them – and therefore the majority has to be 33,” Jagdeo said, adding that ‘absolute majority’ was a “strange importation” into Guyana’s constitution.
Jagdeo had wanted general elections by March 21 that marked the end of the 90-day period after the December 21 no-confidence motion. After that date had become elusive he then pushed for April 30 when the existing voters’ list expires.
The Carter Center earlier this week had proposed as an alternative that steps be taken to extract the names of emigrants with the aim of holding elections in July or August rather than conduct house-to-house registration after which Guyana could see elections in November 2019.
Chancellor of the Judiciary, Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justice Dawn Gregory accepted the arguments of government-hired lawyer, Queen’s Counsel Dr. Francis Alexis that 32.5 (half of the 65-seat National Assembly) is rounded up to 33 and an absolute majority is acquired by adding one to make it 34 votes. In that regard, Jagdeo said his part would respect the Court of Appeal’s decision.
“We’re respectful of the ruling of the court. We have always been respectful of the rulings of the court. One of the reasons we joined the CCJ is to have this external review and we hope that we would be able to convince the CCJ, and we think we can, that the no-confidence motion has been validly passed,” he said.
He observed that decisions on political cases “often” go “against us”, pointing out that one such matter was President David Granger’s unilateral appointment of Retired Justice James Patterson as Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission.
Jagdeo, who is also General Secretary of the PPP, said Friday’s ruling was not a setback. “We will continue to remain mobilised. We will continue to work every single day to ensure that people across Guyana know of the nature of this government they have witnessed in the past when the Chief Justice ruled and there was no stay to that ruling, that the government continued to act with impunity,” he said.
The former Guyanese leader said the matter would be resolved “definitively” in the CCJ, the next level of appeal. At the same time, he welcomed the Guyana Court of Appeal ruling, saying it would be dealt with swiftly by the Trinidad-headquartered CCJ.
Jagdeo appealed to his supporters not to become demoralised but continue to work in communities across Guyana.
Comments
Well hopefully the higher court that Jag plans on taking this matter to will also rule the same as the Guyana Court of Appeal and put this matter to rest once and for all. He will have no other recourse but to wait for when the election is called next year but I’m sure he’ll be finding ways to disrupt the governance of the country in the meantime.
Where in the constitution is the term “absolute” majority defined? Secondly, by whose mandate 0.5 has to be rounded up to 1.0 ?
Jagdeo/PPP have rational grounds to have CCJ overturn this silly, partisan decision.
VNM
Ps. Granger knew all along he will get this partisan decision, that is why he waited two months to tell GECOM to get moving.
I have shown here recently that the published GECOM worksheet of 2015 elections have errors in it. It is on those fictitious numbers the current gov’t took power. So this latest split court decision is just another of the wrongs that Guyanese must tolerate. Wrong and Strong!
V.
What a joke. These clowns are worse than Trump and associates. The general population should aim at educating themselves and their children in a proper manner, if possible, then oust Guyana of these MP from all parties and ban them from holding office. The judiciary is lacking in education period!
Sad indeed.
Does anyone find it a conspiracy that once the PPP/C Indo elite were kicked from office that Exxon began discovering oil?
President Granger and the AFC coalition are stooges for the American Empire. Why would I support the AFC when they are PPP/C rejects who are bankrolled by the USA deep state?
All of you government bashers are forgetting something. ChanderRASS is a turncoat who went to bed with Jag for a price in order to cause confusion in the governance of the country. Up to now he’s afraid to return to the country he betrayed in the worst way. Before the 33 or 34% came into play, Guyana had a legitimate government that was accepted by the international community. Now we got an Opposition Leader grasping at straws and trying every nasty thing he can to get back the reins of Guyana. He’s blinded by the $$$$$ signs he’s seeing coming down the pipes and does not have the interest of Guyana at heart. Just look at who he’s planning to put up as a future President of Guyana…ALI…a lying, fraud, who up to now cannot produce the proof of his academic credentials. I guess that’s the kind of puppet President you would prefer because we all know who is hiding behind the curtains manipulating the strings. Guyana has a better future with the U.S. backing than it will ever have under the PPP headed up by a despicable man. Jump high or jump low….that’s a FACT!!!