– so says Tabitha Sarabo-Halley
Former Minister of Public Service, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley says that the coalition’s Election Petition challenging the March 2 General and Regional Elections should come by the end of this week.
Supporters of the APNU+AFC have been patiently awaiting the petition, looking now to the legal recourse as a means to oust the new Government which did not receive their vote in the elections. The coalition’s main argument is likely to surround the breakdown of the tabulation of Region Four Statement of Polls (SOPs) at GECOM Command Center in March 2020, and the subsequent national recount which it says uncovered thousands of irregularities and discrepancies which cast doubt on the elections results.
“What I’m aware of is the petition could not have gone in before the Elections was gazetted. That [gazetting] happened, I think, last week Thursday or Friday and so the petition should be coming some time very soon, if not by the end of this week. It should be by the end of this week,” Sarabo-Halley said on radio 107.1 FM this evening.
Earlier in August, former President of Guyana and Leader of the PNC/R, David Granger had vowed that Election Petition was imminent.
“The recount process revealed a plethora of grave anomalies, discrepancies and irregularities, the scale, size and scope of which were revealed only through tabulation and observation during the recount. The recount was intended to determine both the quantitative and qualitative nature of the votes cast at the General and Regional Elections and to determine ‘a final credible count’. At the end of the recount, however, it became manifest that the results did not meet the standard for credible elections,” Granger stated.
Meanwhile, Sarabo-Halley hopes that the matter will be dealt with swiftly by the court, much like the numerous other election-related matters that came before the Court prior to the swearing in of Guyana’s new President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, on August 2, 2020.
“The Elections Petition will be filed and it is my hope that the Court, as they would have done throughout the process of the five months, treat it with some amount of urgency and don’t let it run as long as the others would have run in the past,” she said.
The PNC/R says that it has acted responsibly throughout the prolonged political crisis and will continue to do so. It has implored all Guyanese to remain calm and peaceful as the legal processes play out.
