THE Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has made it clear that it has no intention to make a final declaration on the General and Regional Elections before the High Court’s decision on whether the votes for Region Four need to be recounted.
The opposite was the accusation of the opposition and lawyers representing the opposition at the High Court where Chief Justice (CJ), Roxane George-Wiltshire, ruled that the court has jurisdiction to review the actions of the Region’s Returning Officer (RO) during his count of the Statements of Poll (SOPs) and declaration of results.
Criticisms had first come from opposition-nominated commissioner, Robeson Benn, after he and others on the commission received a letter from Chief Election Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, addressed to Chair of the Commission, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, that he had received the declarations from all Regional ROs and compiled a final report for submission.
The letter was dated March 7, 2020 and sent to the Chair and six commissioners. Benn later forwarded the same to Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, and two others.
“I have received declarations from Returning Officers for General and Regional Elections 2020 from Districts 1-10. In accordance with Cap 1:03 Section 99, I have prepared the final report for submission to the commission. In this regard, a request is made for a meeting of the commission at your earliest convenience,” Lowenfield told the Chair.
Later at the High Court on Sunday, representing the opposition, Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes brought the letter to CJ’s attention, requesting that she order the report compiled by Lowenfield to be revoked.
However, Senior Counsel, Neil Boston, representing GECOM, Lowenfield and Region Four’s RO, Clairmont Mingo, brought the CJ’s attention to a release publicised on Sunday from GECOM Public Relations Officer (PRO) Yolanda Ward.
The letter stated that the commission is aware of the series of events which unfolded since the close of polls March 2, 2020 and, contrariwise to some sentiments shared, it has no intention of making a final declaration before the court matter is resolved.
“While it is unfortunate how things have escalated, it is the intention of the Guyana Elections Commission to abide by all legal and procedural requirements to conclude its work. On Thursday, March 5, 2020, a mandatory injunction was granted against the commission and CEO which, as a consequence, impeded the finalisation of the commission’s work,” Ward stated.
“The recent action of the Chief Elections Officer indicating to the Chairperson and commissioners that his report in relation to the final declaration was completed was not intended to disregard the court proceedings, but rather apprising the Chairperson of the completion of the document and that she may convene a meeting at her convenience. In relation to this matter, no meeting was scheduled. GECOM remains resolute in the fulfillment of its constitutional and statutory obligation.”
On March 5, 2020, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), through attorney Anil Nandlall, secured three injunctions in the High Court to block the release and declaration of the results for the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.
They claimed that the declaration of results for Region Four by the region’s Returning Officer (RO), Clairmont Mingo, on Thursday, were unverified.
The first injunction sought to restrain the RO from making any disclosure of the Region Four results unless and until he complies with the statutory procedure set out in section 84 of the Representation of the People’s Act.
The second injunction “compels” the RO to comply with Section 84 of the Representation of the People’s Act and to conduct and complete that verification exercise and then make the declaration as the law requires it to be done. The third injunction sought to restrain Lowenfield and GECOM from making any declaration of the results of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional elections “unless and until” the returning officer complies with that statutory code or verification enunciated in aforementioned Act.
The court has decided that it has jurisdiction to rule on the matter and resume for a ruling on the same on March 10, 2020.
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-9-2020