Tuesday, April 11, 2006

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AFP): Guyana has postponed elections set for early August because of technical problems, an OAS official said Monday, and the new date may now be September 18.

Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States Albert Ramdin, said the Elections Commission pushed back the August 4 date, mandated by the Constitution for election of the legislature and president.

Ramdin received the update from Chairman of the Elections Commission, Steve Surujbally. Ramdin emphasized that the OAS wanted the polls to be held as early as possible to assure democracy and peace.

"Clearly, what we have understood is that elections from a technical perspective cannot be held before August 4 and from a political perspective there are some outstanding matters to be discussed between the Guyana Elections Commission and the political parties, and those need to be resolved before you can proceed," Ramdin told reporters.

The main opposition Peoples National Congress Reform (PNCR) wants house-to-house verification of a five-year-old list of more than 400,000 voters.

General Secretary of the governing Peoples Progressive Party Civic Donald Ramotar briefly reacted to the postponement of the polls but refused to comment on whether the party would agree to the opposition demands before parliament automatically dissolves on May 4.

"I am not satisfied, I think the previous commission held an election in six months, I don't see why this commission can't hold an election in five years," Ramotar told AFP.

The OAS would be observing the general elections in this former British colony located on the north-eastern tip of South America and with strong historical and cultural ties to the Caribbean islands.

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