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… confident fresh elections will be called
… host of lawyers involved, multiple want to be petitioners
Two Elections Petitions will be filed by the APNU+AFC in its contest of the March 2020 General and Regional Elections. At a virtual press conference hosted by the Alliance For Change (AFC) today, party Executives expressed their confidence that the petition(s) will result a call for fresh elections.
Yesterday, Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon announced that the coalition will file its petition(s) at the Supreme Court on Monday. At the press conference today, AFC Chairman, Raphael Trotman said that, beforehand, an Application For Leave was filed to the Court yesterday which will pave the way for the matter to be heard.
“I do believe that we’ll have two petitions because there has been great interest, both here in Guyana and overseas, in ensuring that we have credible petitions going forward,” Trotman said, adding later:
“It is not the first time that multiple petitions have been filed following an Elections. The reason, if one fails, there’s another to stand up because, as I said, the law with respect to petitions is very strict, compliance is very strict. So, if there’s a failing, and many petitions in fact have failed…it is important to have multiple petitions so, if there’s a defect in one, that defect, hopefully, would not be found in the other.”
He stated that while some supporters were concerned about whether and when the petition(s) would be filed, by Law, this was to be done within 28 days of the official gazetting of the declaration of the elections which was made on Friday.
Meanwhile, the AFC Chair said that lawyers involved are based both locally and internationally. They include Trotman; Leader of the AFC, Khemraj Ramjattan; Attorney-at-Law, Roysdale Forde; former Magistrate, Geeta Chandan –Edmond and other Members of the coalition also certified as lawyers. Added to this, lawyers will come from the Caribbean and as far as London. Trotman said that this is even as several Guyanese have signaled their interest to be petitioners on the matter.
“I’m aware that many persons have asked to be petitioners and I believe the lawyers will decide and determine who will eventually go forward,” he said.
One of the positions the coalition will likely put forward in Court is the 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 Caribbean Court of Justice (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 on this basis that the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield submitted one of his now rejected Elections Report, with information based on the declarations made by Returning Officers in the 10 Electoral Districts in March.
However, the PPP/C argued that Order No. 60 and therefore the recount data — which showed victory for the PPP/C — was not set aside by the CCJ and Guyana’s High Court, in July, concluded the matter when it ruled that the recount data must be used.
Trotman thanked citizens for remaining tuned in to the process which is unfolding. He assured them: “We expect that it will be dealt with and that the formal proceedings will proceed on Monday and, thereafter, the High Court will set a very, very early date because this is a matter of national, regional and international importance and the speedier we have this resolved, the better.”
