-say will not stop until Pres. Granger is sworn in for second term

By Naomi Marshall 

LINDEN supporters of the ‘A Partnership for Nation­al Unity and the Alliance For Change’ (APNU+AFC) coalition said that they will continue to protest until President David Arthur Granger is declared Pres­ident. 

This sentiment was ex­pressed by former Member of Parliament Jermaine Figueira during a protest on Monday morning in the mining town of Linden. Figueira told this newspaper that the coalition’s supporters are demanding that the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh make a dec­laration based on the report submitted by Guyana’s Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowen-field on July 11,2020. 

He noted that the CEO has honoured his constitutional obligations and adhered to the ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice, which primarily discarded the national recount, hence, it is time for Justice Singh to honour her constitutional obligation by declaring President Granger re-elected through Guyana’s March 2 elections. 

Figueira remarked, “We believe this elections saga has gone on for way too long, we are in a crisis with regards [sic] to COVTD-19 and more so the money to run the econ­omy is vastly dwindling away and we believe we need a government in place, we need a parliament in place and we believe the chairman must do her bit now, which is going to make a finality o this decision by making the declaration.” 

He added, “‘The Lindeners will continue to protest until a declaration is made. We be­lieve that it is time that President David Granger is sworn in. The evidence suggest [sic] that he won and we are asking the Chairn1an to swear in the President.” 

Gordon Calendar, former Councillor at the Regional Democratic Council, Region I 0, stated that the national recount process was found to be illegal, hence, the only polls that are valid are those from March 2, 2020. ‘°The opposition was attempting to win the elections with a set of fraud votes in those ballot boxes and so our chief elections officer would have gone to the constitution and start quoting the constitution, hence, the national recount is not legal,” Calendar said. 

Lowenfield on Saturday submitted his Elections Report to the Guyana Elec­tions Commission (GECOM), showing a win for the A Part­nership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (AP­NU+AFC). 

The Elections Report, the third of its kind! since the conduct of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections, was submitted to the Chairperson of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh on Saturday at around 11 :OOhrs by the Chief Elections Officer. It is reflective of the declarations made in March 2020 by the returning officers in the country’s I 0 electoral districts. 

According to the Elections Report, there were 475,118 valid votes cast at the General and Regional Elections, and of that number, the APNU+AFC secured 236,777 votes, while the PPP/C raked in 229,330. A New and United Guyana (ANUG) received 2,275 votes; Change Guyana, 2,026; the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), 2,569; the People’s Republic Party (PRP), 862; The Citizenship Initiative (TCI) 680; The New Movement (TN M), 246; and the United Republican Par­ty (URP), 353. There were 3,997 rejected ballot. 

Based on the valid votes cast in favour of the lists of candidates that contest­ed the elections, the AP­NU+AFC was allocated 33 seats; the PPP/C, 3m; and the Joined Lists – ANUG, L.J”P, TNM – one seat in the National Assembly. The National Assembly has 6S seats. In submitting his Elections Report, the chief elections officer told the GECOM Chair that his report was consistent with Article 177 (2) (b) of the Constitution, and the electoral laws governing the country. “It is my un­derstanding that Article 177 (2) (b) of the Constitution affords the technical officer the right to advise the chairperson of the elections result that ought to be declared. in this regard, I have prepared and submitted the results of the General and Regional Elections in accordance with my statutory and con­stitutional duties, and all applicable laws,” Lowenfield said in a signed letter to Justice Singh.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_07_14_2020

orders CEO to submit elections report based on recount

threatens to substitute him with Myers

By Svetlana Marshall

THE Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh on Monday scrapped the March 2020 declarations made by the 10 Returning Officers, in an attempt to force the :hands of the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield to submit an Elections Re­port based on the votes tabulated during the National Recount. 

Failure to submit an Elections Report reflective of the Certificates of Recount by 14:00hrs today (July 14) would result in the Chief Elections Officer being substituted by the Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Roxanne Myers, Justice Singh warned. 

The disclosure was first made by People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)-nominated Elections Commissioner Sase Gunraj, and later confirmed by GECOM’s. Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward. The declarations made in the IO Electoral Districts between March 3 and 13 showed a win for the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) at the Gener­al and Regional Elections. According to those dec­larations, which were not invalidated by the Courts, the ruling Coalition secured 236,777 votes while the PPP/C raked in 229,330. The other parties: A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Change Guyana, Liberty and Justice Party (UP), People’s Republic Party (PRP), The Citizenship Initiative (TCl), The New Movement (TNM), and the United Republican Party (URP) secured approx­imately 9,000 votes.

However, as a result of an allegation of elec­toral fraud, the Elections Commission placed them in abeyance to pave way for the National Recount, which commenced on May 6, 2020 for a period of 33 days. In the not-so-distant past, G ECOM had repeatedly said that though the declarations were in abeyance, they were not invalid, and would only be replaced following another around of declarations. To date, no other declarations have been made b GECOM.

At a meeting of the Elections Commission on Monday (July 13), the Chairman of the Elections Commission invalidated the IO Declarations after hearing arguments from the Government and Opposition-nominated Elections Commissioners on Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Roxanne Myers 

the Elections Report, which was submitted by the Chief Elections Officer on Saturday, July 11, 2020. That Elections Report, the third submitted since the March 2 General and Regional Elections, was reflective of the IO Declarations made in March, though Justice Singh had instructed that the report be compiled during the data from the National Recount. 

“It is my decision that tl1e results of March 13 declaration cannot be used at this time, since these were replaced by the tabulation of the votes at the recount which was hailed by all to be a transparent and credible process,” Justice Singh reportedly said while issuing her decision. 

Moments after exiting the meeting of the Elections Commission, Gunraj told reporters that Justice Singh issued the decision at around 14:30hrs, and in doing so took into considerations not only their arguments, but the July 8 decision of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in the case lrfaan Ali and Jagdeo v Eslyn David and others. 

“She emphasised as well that the Court of Appeal in no way, shape or form, howsoever or where-so ever in that judgment set aside Order 60, its effect or any aspect of it,” the Elections Commissioner recalled while indicating also that the declarations, made in accordance with the Representation of the People Act, have been replaced by the Certificates of Recount generated based on Order No. 60, the legal instrument used to facilitated the National Recount. According to Gunraj, the Chairman’s decision is a step in the right direction.

ELECTIONS REPORT 

Meanwhile, in addressing the Chief Elections Officer’s “failure” to submit an Elections Report based on the National Recount, Justice Singh, according Gunraj, said that though Article 177 (2) (b) indicates that the CEO must advise the Chairman of the Elections Commission on the Elections result, the CEO is not higher than the Commission, and as such the Commission is not “subservient” to him. Lowenfield, therefore, must adhere to the dictates of the Elections Commission, Gunraj told reporters. 

Further, Justice Singh, according to Gunraj, also referenced Paragraph 24 of the summary of the CCJ’s ruling, in which the Court said: “Unless and until an election court decides 0therwise, the votes already counted by the recount process as valid votes are in capable of being declared invalid by any person or authority.” 

While Gunraj told reporters that in Paragraph 24, the CCJ ruled that the results of the National Recount must be used for the declaration of the result for the 2020 General and Regional, such a ruling could not have been found in that paragraph. However, Paragraph 37 of the full judgment reads: “Both the allocation of seats in the National Assembly and the identification of the successful presidential candidate are determined on the sole basis of votes counted and information furnished by Returning Officers under the Representation of the People Act.

Notwithstanding that aspect of the ruling, Justice Singh maintained that an Elections Report must be submitted in accordance with Article 177 (2) (b) and Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act, but most importantly the Certificates of Recount, which were generated during the National Recount. “In light of that, she bas ordered the CEO to present a report to the Commission, using the recount numbers by 2pm tomorrow (today .July 14),” Gunraj reported. He, however, expressed disappoint­ment that the GECOM Chair did not go “the full 9 yards” and complete the electoral process, but bas placed the process back into the hands of Chief Elections Officer. Failure to comply with the Chair­man 1s orders, however, would result in the Chief Elections Officer being substituted by his deputy.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_07_14_2020

– during Anna Regina protest

THE rain did not stop supporters of the APNU+AFC coalition from protesting for President David Granger to be sworn in as Guyana’s next President.
Their protest came on the grounds that the March 2 Elections have concluded and from all indications, based on the Gecom Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, the coalition has won.

Organiser of the protest was Chairman of the PNC in Region Two, Prince Holder. He said the peaceful protest was to call on GECOM to declare the result of the elections and to pave the way for President David Granger to be sworn in. During their protest the supporters of the coalition walked around the Town of Anna Regina for approximately three hours.

The protestors were holding placards that read, “Swear in President David Granger”, “We want Granger for President’, “Only Granger can run this Country”, “Swear Him in Now”. According to a young protester, the country is in chaos, and a decision needs to be made soonest so that Guyana can have a President.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_07_14_2020

…Alexander says in relation to Lowenfield’s latest elections report

By Svetlana Marshall

CHIEF Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield’s resort to the 10 declarations to compile his report is based on “strict law”, longstanding Commissioner of the Guyana Elections Commission Vincent Alexander has said.

Lowenfield on Saturday submitted his Elections Report to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), showing a win for the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC). The Elections Report, the third of its kind since the conduct of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections, was submitted to the Chairman of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh on Saturday at around 11:00hrs by the Chief Elections Officer. It is reflective of the declarations made in March 2020 by the Returning Officers in the country’s 10 Electoral Districts.

According to the Elections Report, there were a total of 475,118 valid votes cast at the General and Regional Elections, and of that number, the APNU+AFC secured 236,777 votes, while the PPP/C raked in 229,330. A New and United Guyana (ANUG) received 2,275 votes; Change Guyana, 2,026 votes; Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), 2,569 votes; People’s Republic Party (PRP), 862 votes; The Citizenship Initiative (TCI), 680 votes; The New Movement (TNM), 246 votes; and the United Republican Party (URP), 353 votes. There were a total of 3,997 rejected ballots.

Based on the valid votes cast in favour of the Lists of Candidates that contested the elections, the APNU+AFC was allocated 33 seats; the PPP/C, 31; and the Joined Lists – ANUG, LJP, TNM – one seat in the National Assembly. The National Assembly has 65 seats. In submitting his Elections Report, the Chief Elections Officer told the GECOM Chair his Report was consistent with Article 177 (2) (b) of the Constitution, and the Elections Laws governing the country. “It is my understanding that Article 177 (2) (b) of the Constitution affords the technical officer the right to advise the Chairman of the elections result that ought to be declared. In this regard, I have prepared and submitted the results of the General and Regional Elections, in accordance with my statutory and constitutional duties and all applicable laws,” Lowenfield said in a signed letter to Justice Singh.

JUDGE-LIKE MANNER

Speaking with reporters following a meeting of the Commission on Monday, Alexander reported: “In a judge-like manner, the Chairperson reverted to the 16th June, and has once again instructed the CEO to prepare a report in keeping with the results of the recount, and has given him up to tomorrow (July 14) to make the submission. If in any circumstance he does not make that submission, she has already decided that the task will be given to the DCEO.”
Given the fact that Article 177 (2) (b) of the Constitution mandates that the Presidential Candidate with the most votes could only be declared President by the Chairman of the Elections Commission, “acting only in accordance with the advice of the Chief Elections Officer,” it is unclear whether Justice Singh will terminate the services of Lowenfield, if he fails to comply, to allow for Myers to assume his position. The PPP/C and its allies have been pushing for Lowenfield to be fired.
While the GECOM Chair and the Opposition-nominated Commissioners are pushing for a declaration of the results, based on the National Recount, Alexander said if one should analyse the CCJ’s ruling, he or she would agree that the Elections Commission created a new electoral regime under the Recount Order for which the Court ruled should not occur.

According to Alexander, though Lowenfield was “silent” for the most part of the meeting, he explained that his decision to submit an Elections Report based on the 10 Declarations made in March was in accordance with the Electoral Laws of the country.

Lowenfield, in a letter to the GECOM Chair July 10, had said that the judgment of CCJ ruled out the notion that the Elections Commission could determine the credibility of the Elections. On that basis, he said Order No. 60, the legal instrument used to trigger the National Recount, could not be executed in its entirety. The primary objective of the National Recount was to determine a final credible count as provided for in Order No. 60.

Further, Lowenfield sought clarity on the request for another Elections Report under Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act. “Kindly provide guidance on how Section 96 (1) of the ROPA could be properly operationalised,” the Chief Elections Officer asked, while noting that “of particular relevance are two facts: 1) that the election law envisages that “the votes counted, and information furnished” would be provided by statutory officers and 2) the allocation of seats is premised on the statutory report of the Returning Officers.”

Alexander said the Chief Elections Officer’s decision to revert to the 10 Declarations was based on “strict law”. “If you look at strict law, the 10 declarations have not been contested. The only issue in the past, which was placed before the 10 declaration was the issue of content; that issue no longer exists, and there has been no legal action that question those 10 declarations. So, procedurally, those 10 declarations are available for the purpose of determining an election result,” Alexander pointed out. However, given that the elections have been marred by a host of irregularities and thousands of cases of voter impersonation, which were unearthed during the recount, Alexander told reporters that the better option would be to nullify the elections.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_07_14_2020

Dear Editor,
DID the PPP learn anything meaningful from its 23 years in office, especially post-Jagan? A confidential list being circulated of potential ministers of the incoming PPP administration has dubious characters. If the PPP/C is declared the winner, in the line-up are some discredited persons known for widespread corruption. Supporters of the PPP and those who struggled for the victory are questioning whether the fight for free and fair elections and the recount was worth it. It seems we are back to the old corrupt ways with some of the same suspects back in the saddle.

One of the ministers who gave away the whole forest and all of Guyana’s resources will be returning. He is the most disliked figure in the PPP camp. If there is a single person who caused the PPP to be defeated in 2015 it was him. Then worse, he abandoned the party in May 2015 and returned in 2019 when it appeared thatthe PPP would win again. He is a favourite of the big chief.

Mr Thunderbolt is back; he was the flour man who wants to be finance minister. He was sacked by the PPP government over the flour scam. He joined the AFC to depose the PPP. He wanted to head Guysuco under the coalition. After being denied the position, he ran back to the PPP. The list has him heading the Central Planning Office; don’t be surprised if he returns to the AFC since he has no political consistency or integrity.

For Local Government Minister, there is the man who caused the PPP to lose Region Six in 2011 and 2015. He was the most disliked person on the Corentyne. The PPP lost three seats on the Corentyne because of him. He could not even win his own village of Bloomfield. The chief had to save him and move him from Corentyne to town in 2011. But the damage was already done and the PPP lost ground; the PPP will lose votes at the next elections once he is back.

Other names on the list are Priya who is back at the Ministry of Education; Hugh Todd as Junior Minister of Education; Deodat Indar at Finance; Juan Edghill for junior finance minister; Dr Frank Anthony at Health; Anil Nandlall at Home Affairs; Robeson Benn at the Ministry of Public Infrastructure; Sanjeev Datadin as AG; Paul Cheong at Agriculture with Dharamkumar Seeraj the Junior Minister; Peter Ramsaroop at Trade, Veersammy at Labour, Tony Vieira at Communications, Susan Rodrigues at Culture & Sports and Vindhya Persaud at the Ministry of Social Protection, among others.

Many of those who kept watch over the ballot containers for over three months and those using the media to champion democracy and the recount are out. Also out are the small parties that fought tooth and nail to combat the fraudulent count. No room for them (Shuman, Jonas, Bandhu, etc.) in the tent. Their sacrifices add up to nought and are in vain. Is the sacrifice worth it?
Yours truly,
Boysie Mangru

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_06_13_2020

Dear Editor,

ON Friday, July 10, U.S. President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of Roger Stone, a Republican :activist who was sentenced to seven years for obstruction, witness-tampering and making false statements to Congress in relation to FBI Special Coun­sel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Republicans are generally happy with Trump’s decision while Dem­ocrats are livid. Many Republicans belie,,, that Roger Stone was unfairly targeted by biased prosecutors and that he did not commit a crime which warranted such a long prison sentence. Democrats on the other hand, believe that he lied to protect the President and for that ht should be locked up for a long time. 

TI1e differences in the way Republicans and Democrats feel about the Roger Stone case is attributed to heuristic bi­ases that influence the way we see and process information. Human tend to readily accept and believe what is said by those whom they support, and to disregard information that conflict with their pre existing beliefs. This explains why Trump ‘s supporters always seem to agree with what he says. 

In Guyana, these biases explain why APNU+AFC supporters believe that the PPP/C rigged the 2020 elections, while at the same time, PPP/C supporters bel1eve it is the APNU+AFC coalition that is attempting to steal the elec­tions. People tend to accept ooly that information support­ing what they believe to be true. For this reason, facts often do not change peoples’ minds. And it does not matter that the recount exercise exposed facts showing that there was voter impersonation at the March 2 elections, people will continue to believe what they already hold to be true. 

For die past-five months, coalition leaders consistently claim that the PPP/C exploited the bloated electoral list to rig the, March 2 elections. The western diplomats continue to disregard those claims. Respected businessman Stanley Ming highlighted the absurdity of an election result showing more people voted than is possible, given our population. Western diplomats continue to disregard that possibility. The recount exercise exposed many serious anomalies, all pointing to a conclusion that the PPP/C rigged the elections, yet western diplomats continue to disregard those facts. It seems therefore that western dip­lomats are indeed humans; they also suffer from the effects of human cognitive biases. And unless there is an illegal covert intelligence operation aimed at ousting the coalition, one can only assume that the western diplomats’ continued disregard of evidence showing the PPP fraud is an effect of heuristic biases.

When foreign diplomat allow cognitive biases to affect their judgements, they risk relaying biased and inaccurate information back to their respective governments. TI1ose governments will consequently make poor foreign policy decisions based on faulty information. In some cases, diplomats are deliberately fed fabricated information to influence policy decisions. 

A case in point is the 2003 U.S. decision to invade Iraq. As noted in Wikipedia, Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi, with the help of lobbying firm, BKSH & Associates provided U.S. Intelligence with fabricated information suggesting that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and that he had ties to al-Qaeda. Chalabi at the time desperately wanted to become President of Iraq, and he found a way to effectively deceive the Americans into helping him to remove Saddam Hussein. The result of Chalabi’s greedy ambition is the complete destruction of his country and a more destabilised Middle East region. 

Let us hope that the posture taken by western diplomats in Guyana is not influenced by fabricated information and/or greedy ambition, and that the co­alition’s assertion of electoral fraud is not indefinitely blacked out.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_07_13_2020

GUYANA’s unorthodox 2020 General and Regional Elections have proved, undeniably, the need for Guyana’s political leaders to have serious discussions about shared governance, constitutional reform and electoral reform, sooner rather than later.

This is a position shared by many, including Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo who endorsed these and other needed changes in the Sunday column, ‘My Turn’.

The Prime Minister said that the year’s elections have been stained with electoral fraud, a cycle of litigation and ethnic tensions which point to deep-seated issues which will require collective efforts to address.

To set the course, Nagamootoo said that it is crucial that President David Granger and the Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, meet “urgently” to engage on the way forward.

The last time the President and Opposition leader met was almost one year ago in July 2019 to begin discussions on the selection of a new Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) ahead of the March 2, 2020 elections.

The dialogue, which was later continued by party representatives of the APNU+AFC and People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), ended successfully with the swearing in of Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh as Chair.

The Prime Minister believes that another meeting between the leaders of the country’s main political parties is timely and should prove beneficial in the current tense climate.

Subsequently to this meeting, he endorsed that a multi-stakeholders National Commission be established to prepare for transition to a multi-party/multi-ethnic interim national government based on 50/50 parity in Cabinet.

A national government is a government with members from more than one political party and are especially formed during a crisis.

Nagamootoo also proposed a number of electoral reforms which have proven themselves as necessary during the current elections.

He proposed that the Constitution ought to be amended to depoliticise and broaden the Elections Commission and that laws must be made to regulate campaign financing and foreign interference in the electoral process.

Such recommendations also came out of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) report on Guyana’s elections. The Mission had observed that the bipartisan composition of the Commission resulted in excessive polarisation, affecting the Commission’s ability to function, reach common ground and make timely decisions.

Meanwhile, regarding campaign financing, the Mission noted that the legal framework did not sufficiently provide for transparency, accountability and oversight. It also said that the GECOM did not assume its oversight responsibility to monitor campaign finance.

Further to that, the Prime Minister also called for a thorough revision of the voters list to weed out the names of deceased persons, and those who are living permanently in foreign countries.

Other well-known individuals such as businessman, Stanley Ming and Attorney-at-Law, Nigel Hughes have pointed out that the decision to head into the crucial elections with a bloated Official List of Electors (OLE) and the halting of the house-to-house registration exercise was a “recipe for chaos”.

Prior to the OLE’s confirmation, GECOM Commissioners nominated by the government had argued that under no circumstance could Guyana’s population of 750,000 plus persons produce such large Voters List considering that the school-age population is around 200,000.

There were also issues regarding the presence of the dead and migrated on the list and, while efforts were made through the General Registrar’s Office (GRO) to remove some of the dead, the Court ruled that residency was not a requirement for voting in Guyana.

Even in accepting the decisions, Government-nominated Commissioners contended that with Guyana’s known history in accusations of rigged elections and calls for the recounting of votes, heading into ‘the mother of all elections’ the most credible List should have been sought.

However, the PPP/C opposed the continuation of the exercise and made light of the calls to remove the dead and migrants. Fast forward to post E-Day, Guyana has engaged in a national recount and several court battles and is yet to declare its elections results due to contention on the validity of votes cast which include the deceased and migrated.

Also, in his list of endorsed recommendations was a call for the personal data of all Guyanese nationals to be protected from unauthorised access and manipulation for electoral purposes.

The PPP/C’s 2020 elections campaign is still being viewed as highly suspicious by the governing APNU+AFC as information has been released about the party’s involvement with Cambridge Analytica, a data marketing firm that uses data to change audience behaviour. It has been exposed internationally for its practices of data harvesting from tens of millions of Facebook users — in some cases, private messages.

Another company the party is involved with includes Mercury Public Affairs — an American firm contracted by the PPP/C in March 2019 — from which representatives entering the country and were found in possession of cyber equipment according to reports.

The final endorsement by the Prime Minister was for fresh elections to be held under the aegis of the United Nations (UN) within three years.

“These are by no means novel or new ideas but I share them today with a view to stimulating a national dialogue on the way forward so that we could avoid the pitfalls that would attend zero-sum, winner-takes-all elections,” he stated.

“For too long Guyanese have been trapped in these ethnic silos in which we have found it difficult to breathe and to grow. We have to step out and away from our collective self-entrapment, and literally escape from the political labyrinth. Together we must face our many challenges and enjoy our new opportunities as an enviable rich petroleum state.”

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_07_13_2020

Min Raphael Trotman said that CEO’s report cannot be rescinded 

Disgruntled parties must take up election petition after declaration as CCJ ruled

“TIU: CEO, once be tenders that advice and that report under Section 96 of the Representation of the People’s Act, it cannot be undone and it can’t be changed or replaced and whatever quarrel we may have or whether they’ve been an inadvertent or deliberate error, it can only be cured or remedied by an elections petition,” APNU+AFC Co-Campaign Manager, Raphael Trotman said on Sat­urday. 

Speaking on an APNlJ+AFC programme, the Minister of Natural Resources said that, based on his legal understanding, advice given to his party in 2006 and the Caribbean Court of Justice’s (CCJ’s) recent decision, it appears that a declaration must be made and those not in favour of the results must take to the courts but only after it is made. 

Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, submit­ted his Elections Report to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Saturday, showing a win for the APNU +AFC. It is the third of its kind since the conduct of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections and is, for the first time, reflective of the declarations made in March 2 020 by the Returning Officers in the country’s JO Electoral Districts. 

There is now great national debate, and amongst G ECOM Commissioners, about whether his report should have been guided by the March 2 elections results from the IO decla­rations or the subsequent national recount which the CCJ picked apart. 

ln explaining his position on the matter, Trotman pointed to 2006 when he and now Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, visited the GECOM headquarters to meet with the then Chairman and CEO, when he said they were told that once the CEO’s report has been issued, no changes could be made. 

“We were told that he could not go back and make any changes to it even if there were patent /laws or errors and we were then told that an elections petition had to be filed if we intended to pursue gaining the seat which had been wrongfully allocated to the PPP,” Trotman recounted. 

Furthern1ore, he said that while the GECOM Chair has di­rected that the recount data be used and the People’s Progres­sive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has been clamouring for Lowenfield to use same, no one can dictate the actions of the CEO who has indicated that his report is in keeping with the law. 

Trotman said that \\i1ile some point to Section 18 of the Elections Law (Amendment) Act which stipulates that the CEO is «subject to the direction and control of the Commis­sion”, the fact. remains that the CEO has a statutory and a constitutional duty and no Commission, Court or person can direct him to de) ever results of their choosing. 

He drew for example the similarity that the Minister of Public Security cannot instruct the Commissioner of Police how to conduct his operations. 

Trotman also noted that while some disgruntled with Lowenfield ‘s report have called for him to be replaced, a new CEO would not be able to certify the elections unless that person was present and working alongside the CEO during the elections and rightfully qualifies for the said position. 

The Minister stated: “I hear people saying ‘fire him’ but, quite frankly, if you dismiss the CEO, we’re going to plunge ourselves into deeper trouble because no one can rightfully now assume his responsibilities to say ‘I can certify this or that result’ because no one else has the general and even specific authority and supervision of these elections 0th.er than the CEO.” 

CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS 

Trotman said that though some had hoped that CCJ’s ruling would have provided finality on Guyana’s elections leading to a swift declaration, the very opposite came out of the Court’s assumption of jurisdiction and ruling whereby the Elections Commission is now left with many uncertainties.

“We are in uncharted waters; we are in, I would say, a Constitutional crisis. Unfortunately, the CCJ has muddied the waters rather than made it clearer for us … in a week’s time, they sought to come down with some decisions which turned out not to be helpful. They left several an1biguities,” he said. 

One of which he outlines was the current uncertainty about the legal effect of Order No.60 — the legal cover used to facilitate the national recount which pointed to massive irregularities and close to 5,000 cases of voter impersonation. 

The Elections Commission had relied on Article 162 of the Constitution, and Section 22 of the Elections Law (Amend­ment) Act to bring Order No. 60 into effect, but the CCJ, in its ruling, said the allocation of seats in the National Assembly and the identification of the successful presidential candidate could only be based on the reports of the Returning Officers. 

It was on that basis that the CEO submitted his latest Elections Report, no longer on the infom1ation coming out of the recount, but in accordance with the Representation of the People Act, based on the declaration made by Returning Officers in the 10 Electoral Districts in March.

However, the PPP/C argues that Order No. 60 and therefore the recount data — which shows victory for the PPP/C — was not set aside by the CCJ but was actually endorsed by the Court and should be used to make the declaration. 

Still, in this case, the question would remain of whether one can only adhere to one aspect of a legally binding Order and not the Order in its entirety without amounting to a breach of the Order. 

Turing back to the role of the CEO, Trotman said: “We are in the throes of a Constitutional crisis. I don’t see how any section of the Representation of the People Act, or any powers that the Commission may have, could overturn or undo that report once it is issued and, given the reasoning of the CCJ, it would appear that any aggrieved party or parties would have to await a declaration and then approach the High Court for a petition to set aside that declaration.” 

He also put forward the option that the Commission is in its right to state that it cannot make a declaration based on the circumstances. However, like the rest of Guyana, Trotman said that one can only wait to see what unfolds at the Commission level. 

A GUYANA PROBLEM 

At the end of the day, the Minister said that the issues at hand are Guyana’s problems and the country and its leaders ,viii have to find a way forward. He said that those who do not !Understand the history of Guyana’s elections and politics may not be able to provide proper guidance on the situation. 

“There seems to be more outside and external interest in our elections than there is in Guyana More foreign states seem to be more interested in a particular outcome than even the people of Gu ana to some extent, to the point where they are prepared to breach all international protocol. Sand conventions and say and do things which are unheard of and which could not even have been risked or entertained in their own states,” he said. 

With the tensions high, he said that he is nonetheless pleased that President David Granger, Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo and members of civil society have encouraged patience amongst the people so that chaos does not ensue. 

However, he condemned reported acts of persons previously seeking to intimidate the GECOM Chair in weeks passed by throwing snakes into her yard and flying drones over her home; and the threats coming to the CEO for seeking to do his constitutional duty. 

“We pray that the peace prevails, we pray that good sense prevails,” Trotman said. “In the days ahead, I believe that the political leaders will be called on to find a way forward. It will not be the first time that political leaders have had to have dialogue. We’re locked in an epic battle where neither side intends to budge and, unfortunately, elections in Guyana have been where one has to win and one has to lose. But I do believe that the time has come for us to seriously look at finding a way where both sides could win and the country can win”.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_07_13_2020