PPP, Civil Society pickets Ministry of Presidency

Aug 23, 2019 News

The People’s Progressive Party, two civil society organizations and some concerned citizens congregated outside of the Ministry of the Presidency on Vlissengen Road to protest for a series of reasons related to the No Confidence Motion of December 21, 2018.
Tracy Shamsudeen of the Association of Democracy and Human Rights told the media that House to House Registration will not allow for elections to be held within a short period.
She said “[The need for] claims and objections has been reiterated by numerous civil society members and it’s also a faster means for registering people for an election period considering the political affairs of Guyana now.”
She has called for an election date to be announced, and is contending that GECOM is being used by Government to delay the election.
“The Vote of No Confidence was passed on December 21, 2018. Within three months of that time, we should have been in an election season,” Shamsudeen said.
A representative of the Mass Action People’s Movement (MAPM), formerly known as the Movement Against Parking Meters also was there to continue a protest started by the organization last week, under the banner of “Disrespect for Constitution = Disrespect for Guyanese.”
In addition, MAPM is calling on businesses to close operations during the hour of the protest in order to facilitate both the business owners and their staff to join the protest.
PPP stalwart and Member of Parliament, Juan Edghill, echoed the sentiments of the Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, that although House to House Registration was not deemed unconstitutional by the Chief Justice, the timeline of 290 days laid out in GECOM’s workplace flies in the face of the three-month timeframe stipulated by the Constitution, after the passing of a No Confidence Motion.
“Elections can be held simply by using a claims and objections period, where all the people that are not on the list could get on the list. People who have had a change of name could get their names changed. People who have moved from one electoral division to another can have a transfer. We can have a certified official [with claims and objections].
Asked what would be a realistic date for elections, he said that from his assessment, if claims and objections starts immediately, elections can be held before October ends.
But GECOM Commissioner Vincent Alexander said on Wednesday that claims and objections can’t sanitise the Official List of Electors (OLE).
He maintains that House to House Registration, which has already registered over 270,000 people, is the only exercise that can produce a credible list.

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