The allegations by the PNC-led APNU/AFC and several of the one-man, one-woman parties that the PPP called elections early giving themselves unfair advantage is pure balderdash, sheer nonsense.
Several of the leaders of small parties and even the leader of the opposition and leader of the PNC, Aubrey Norton, have complained that the President and the PPP have deliberately called elections early, robbing the opposition parties of preparatory time. In the case of Aubrey Norton, he complained that they were preparing to have tee-shirts as part of the election paraphernalia, but the time is now too short for them to procure tee-shirts and other paraphernalia.
Not only is the allegation nonsense, it is total dishonesty. The constitution caters for elections to be held no later than five years after the commencement of the last parliament, with a three-months grace period. The 12th parliament commenced on September 1, 2020. Therefore, the elections are constitutionally due by September 1, 2025. The constitution provides for a three months leeway, and, thus, the President had the option of choosing a date between September 1 and December 1, 2025. By constitutional mandate, unless the president opted for an earlier date than September 1, the elections date of between September 1, 2025 to December 1, 2025 was known since September 1, 2020, almost five years ago.
If the president had chosen a date before September 1, essentially calling snap elections, that would have been a date that would have come as a complete surprise and political parties might have had good reasons to accuse the President and the PPP government of giving themselves an undue advantage.
But the President and the PPP government have kept their promise that elections would be held on time, within the constitutional deadline, which was known since September 1, 2020 and was always for between September 1, 2025 to December 1, 2025.
That many of the parties are not ready, that they have been caught with their “pants down” is a demonstration of their incompetence, of their unpreparedness for government. The allegation that the President “tricked” them is sheer excuse.
Let us be clear, President Irfaan Ali and the PPP government had the option of a surprise. They could have dissolved parliament long before September 1. The government decided to wait for their full term.
Those who wanted to run for the presidency, to run to form the next government, should have been prepared for elections by September 1, if not before.
The government has been unequivocally faithful to the constitution of Guyana. If political parties were caught with their “pants down” for a simple thing like anticipating the elections date, the real question is how can they be trusted to run government?