NO constitutional crisis if Opposition Leader does not meet the President – AG Williams
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− Application for interim stay brought before Court of Appeal
DPI, Guyana, Thursday, February 28, 2019
The hearing of an application for an interim stay of the Chief Justice’s ruling on January 31, and a Conservatory Order preserving the status quo ante (current state of affairs) that the President and the Cabinet remain in office was again brought before Judge Rishi Persaud today, at the Appeal Court.
The order was sought by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams SC., at the Court of Appeal after parties in the three appeals filed against the Chief Justice’s ruling agreed to submit all written arguments and then present oral arguments on March 15.
Following today’s proceedings that saw Judge Persaud refusing to grant the interim order, the Attorney General reiterated that it is not possible for the government to conduct an election, but rather it is the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) who is authorised to do so based on its readiness.
AG Williams argued that 106 (7) of Guyana’s Constitution is an ‘erroneous provision’ and that one will require reading of other provisions in the constitution to arrive at a sensible outcome.
“It proposes to repose in the government the conduct of elections and the government does not have the conduct of elections. The party given the responsibility for the conduct of election according to our constitution is the Guyana Elections Commission and there is a set of provisions dealing with that from 161 to 162, where they have the absolute remit for the conduct of elections.”
He made it clear that there will be no constitutional crisis if the Opposition Leader does not meet with the President within the 90-day period.
“There is no drop-dead date after 90 days. There were two options given inside that same provision, 30 days or a longer period. This means that if you don’t make that 3 months then you enter into a process to arrive at a two-thirds majority. It means that the section contemplated after 90 days without an election, you move to the stage where the two parties talk to get a two-thirds majority and that has to be a process so it means that there must have recognised that it could not be 90 days exactly.”
The Attorney General said that President David Granger is prepared to meet with the Opposition Leader.
In the interim, he said that the government is pursuing a legitimate remedy in the court since it believes that the December 21 vote was erroneous and miscalculated.
Synieka Thorne.
Images: Marceano Narine.