Jagdeo announces Nov 28 as election date; lifts ban on opposition TV station during campiagn

President Bharrat Jagdeo announced on Sunday that general and regional elections will be held on November 28. Nomination Day is on October 27.

Jagdeo disclosed the date at a political rally of his Peoples Progressive Party Civic in Greater Georgetown Sunday night.

The president spoke about his government's controversial decision to shut down the opposition-aligned television station CNS TV6 for four months.

The suspension was supposed to begin on October 4. However Jagdeo said he will allow the station to broadcast during the election campaign and begin the suspension on December 1 instead, so that the opposition would not have any excuses for "another resounding defeat at the polls.”

Jagdeo told supporters, "I want to take away any excuse that they may have to create violence or enmity or to boycott the elections.”

The ban was imposed on the recommendation of the state Advisory Committee on Broadcasting based on the station's claim that there was a “Hindu conspiracy to remove the airing of a Christian programme and a Pentecostal invasion of Guyana which the Catholic Bishop is treating with indifference.”

The Guyana Trades Union Congress urged opposition parties last week to boycott the polls, claiming that the ban would have prevented all contenders from having  equal access to media. Other groups, including the Guyana Media Proprietors Association and the Guyana Press Association also called on the government to lift the ban.