Georgetown – Chairman of the Caribbean Community, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Dr Ralph Gonsalves, says that a special meeting of the regional body will be held next week to discuss the electoral impasse in Guyana.

Gonsalves, who said the meeting could be held as early as Monday, made the announcement while speaking on a radio programme in Jamaica where he repeated calls for the results of the March 2 general election to be declared in accordance with the CARICOM supervised recount.

“I was in discussions with the Secretary-General yesterday (Wednesday) and we agreed that we would await a decision  by the courts . . . .”

Gonsalves, who described the crisis in Guyana as a blot on the nation and the regional body, said that certain actions could be taken by the grouping but did not go into details.

“I wouldn’t be able, without a meeting of the heads to speak on that, and it would be  premature for me to speak on that,” Gonsalves said.

He added that in a normal democracy the counting of votes is a simple matter but stated that the situation in Guyana “has become the equivalent of a long-running soap opera, pregnant with real danger for the people of Guyana and the Caribbean Community”.

Guyana’s Chief Justice Roxanne George is today scheduled to hear the case filed by  a supporter of the APNU/AFC coalition, Misenga Jones.

Jones is  seeking to block  the declaration of the election results based on the recount figures.

Since the March 2 election, other CARICOM leaders, including former CARICOM Chair and Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Amor Motley and Prime Minister of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit have also joined in calls for an end to the electoral impasse in Guyana. (CMC)