Georgetown, Guyana – (July 24, 2019) Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Mr. Joseph Harmon, this evening, refuted statements made by member of the Opposition, Ms. Gail Teixeira, that talks have discontinued between the Government and the Opposition on the nominations for the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

In a press release issued this evening by Office of the Leader of the Opposition, Ms. Teixeira claimed that “It is unbelievable that one week has passed and no meeting has been scheduled for the continuation of discussions at the informal level either between the Leader of the Opposition and the President or with their emissaries. We, in the Parliamentary Opposition, thought that we were making progress in the informal engagement, albeit slow, with 4 names that are “not unacceptable” to the President.”

Director General Harmon noted that at no point were talks either discontinued by the Government or was the Opposition disengaged. As a matter of fact, Mr. Harmon said he expects that a meeting will be soon held between the President and Opposition Leader.

“Talks were never broken off. Both sides have been in touch since the last meeting and as we speak, arrangements are being made to have an engagement between the President and the Leader of the Opposition and this should take place very soon,” he said.

From July 4 to date, there have been four meetings between the representatives of the President and the Leader of the Opposition with the view of “hammering” out the list of names submitted by both parties.

There have also been two meetings between President David Granger and the Opposition Leader, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo during that time, on July 4th and July 16th, 2019.

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