Parliament dissolved, elections March 2

GEORGETOWN (CMC):

President David Granger has issued a proclamation dissolving the National Assembly ahead of the March 2020 regional and general elections.

A statement from the Office of the President stated that Granger issued the proclamation dissolving the Parliament and the 10 Regional Democratic Councils on Monday.

“In exercise of the powers conferred upon me by the aforesaid articles, I do hereby dissolve the 11th Parliament of Guyana on the 30th day of December 2019, and appoint March 2, 2020, as the day on which the election of members of the National Assembly shall be held, the issue and publication of any other proclamation according to the Constitution in this regard notwithstanding.”

Granger had continued to lead a coalition Government here even though it had lost a vote of no confidence filed by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo in December last year.

Jagdeo had called for a fresh general election, 90 days after the motion was successfully passed in the National Assembly when a Government legislator sided with the Opposition to remove the government’s slender one-seat majority in the 65-member Chamber.

But the Government had challenged the matter in the courts, and in July, the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice, which is Guyana’s highest court, ruled that the motion was validly passed.

President Granger had delayed naming the date for the fresh elections insisting that he would have only done so when the Guyana Elections Commission said it was prepared to conduct free and credible elections in Guyana.