Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, through his lawyer, is asking the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to issue consequential orders for general and regional elections to be held within three months of June 18, 2019. Further, Jagdeo is asking the court to put a strict timeframe for the appointment of a new Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
The CCJ is slated to issue consequential orders on Friday, July 12.
These orders are consequent to two major rulings that the court made last month. The CCJ had ruled that the December 21, 2018 no-confidence motion against the government was validly passed and that the appointment of Justice (Retired) James Patterson as GECOM Chairman by President Granger was unconstitutional.
Further to the ruling on the validity of the no-confidence motion, PPP is asking the CCJ to order the Cabinet, including the President, to resign but remain in office in order to hold an election within three months of 18th June 2019.
PPP asks, “In order to facilitate such an election, the President shall by proclamation appoint a date for the holding of the said election no later than the 18th September 2019.”
Further, PPP is asking to CCJ to basically block house-to-house registration.
PPP asked that the official list of electors produced pursuant to Order No 15 of 2018 with a qualifying date of October 31, 2018, to be used at the upcoming elections as the official list of electors.
On the matter where the court ruled that President Granger acted unconstitutionally in appointing the last GECOM Chairman, PPP is asking for a “fixed timeframe” for the appointment of a new head of the elections body.
Specifically, PPP asked the court to rule that, “In order to facilitate the appointment of a Chairman of the Elections Commission, the President and the Leader of the Opposition shall communicate with each other in good faith, not excluding meeting face to face, with a view to agreeing a list of six persons, not unacceptable to the President, within one week of the date hereof.”
PPP was also keen to ask that CCJ orders that “the President shall appoint a Chairman from the list so provided within three days of the provision of any such list.”
