And switching now to politics, for almost a year, we've been asking the Prime Minister if he was planning to call an early election. The signs were all there: first, all but one of the municipalities voted blue last March, then the Opposition was - and is - in disarray, leaving the PUP as the only viable option.
However no matter how we prodded or cajoled him, the PM was tight lipped up until last week, when he announced that the date would be set for March 12th.
But an affidavit submitted to the court as part of the ongoing redistricting case brought by Jerry Enriquez and his attorney Anand Ramlogan, Briceno reveals that he had made up his mind on a specific date in late 2024. Courtney Menzies took a look at the document and has this story.
In this affidavit, PM John Briceno gives a fascinating insight into the decision-making process behind the March 12th general election date. He details that Eamon Courtenay and his closest advisors met on Christmas Eve and that's when he first set his mind to the date. Then the affidavit reveals that at 8:49 on Christmas night, while you were eating ham and turkey leftovers, Briceno and Courtenay were fixing the date for elections. Yesterday, he admitted to deciding on the date over a month before he announced it:.
Courtney Menzies:
"Why March 12th? Why did you decide to call elections early?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Well, what happened from last year, you guys have been saying to call the election. And I've said no, I'm going to wait, I wanted to wait until 2025 and we were looking different - I've had a lot of discussions but it was just before Christmas, I had a meeting with some of my closest advisors and it was then that we decided that March would be a good time, usually March, people are working, it's usually not raining, it's not hot, so it's a good time to hold the election so we felt that March the 12th should work."
In another part of the affidavit, while explaining why he denied providing Jerry Enriquez's attorney with advance notice of the date he would call the election, PM Briceno attests that he has never known the dissolution of the National Assembly and the announcement of the date to occur at a meeting of the House of 
Representatives. Well, being charitable, we might say his powers of recall are not flawless because in 2003 he sat right next to PM Musa when he announced the election in parliament:
Said Musa, Prime Minister
"I have therefore decided to advice His Excellency the Governor General to dissolve the National Assembly on February the fourth 2003, to arrange for nomination day to be on February seventeenth and to name as the date for the general elections, Wednesday, March fifth."
And while Briceno didn't go this route with his announcement, he also didn't give more than a month's advance notice. Musa gave 40 days advanced notice, but Briceno denied the date right up to the end, even though we've been asking since March 2024.
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"No we are not going to call elections. The elections are slated for 2025 and so there is going to be no elections in 2024."
posted (July 18, 2024)
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"We will not have elections in 2024."
Reporter:
"Are we looking at March 2025?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I said, 2024, we have January to November, we actually have until 2026, so I can tell you it will not be in 2024."
posted (September 17, 2024)
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"As I have said repeatedly that we were elected for 5 years and we plan to go to go as close as possible to the 5 years but there will be no elections in 2024."
posted (October 11, 2024)
Courtney Menzies:
"There are may speculations that you may call elections before that."
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Looks like you know more than I do."
posted (November 12, 2024
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I know the UDP wants us to get them out of their misery by calling the election so they can try and decide who is going to be the next leader, but we are going to call the elections when we believe it's the right time. I said it's going to be in 2025."
posted (January 8, 2025)
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Whilst I have not decided, I think it's going to be more towards the first half of this year."
posted (January 22, 2025)
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"So I'm not going to announce the election today, but I can tell you that I did tell the cabinet when we had our first cabinet meeting, I said, listen, get ready. I'm looking anywhere between March and June."
Notably, by the time those last two interviews were given, the PM already had privately fixed the date as March 12th.
A decision in that redistricting challenge is expected later this week.
Email
Print