Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon said the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) is very optimistic that it will emerge victorious upon the conclusion of its Elections Petition cases.
On Tuesday, Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George will commence preliminary hearings of the Petitions. The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is pushing to have the petitions nullified based on technicality but Harmon said the Opposition has put forward a strong case.
“Once these preliminary matters which are technical in nature and relates to service of the Petitions are heard, we expect dates to be set for the hearing of the substantive matters,” he told reporters during a virtual press conference on Friday.
Describing the Government’s arguments as baseless, the Opposition Leader said he expects the Court to determine and declare that the Elections were not held in conformity with the law and that they were unconstitutional, null, void and of no legal effect.
Importantly, the Opposition Leader wants the Court to scrap the results of the March 2 General and Regional Elections as declared by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on August 2.
GECOM had relied on data coming out of a National Recount to declare the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/) winner of the elections.
Harmon wants the Court to rule “that the Chief Election Officer is not entitled to base his report required by Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act on data generated from the Recount purported to be carried out under Order No. 60 of 2020; that the Election Report based on Certificates of District Tabulation from the National Recount is illegal, null and void; and it included dead people voting, persons not in Guyana on 2nd March, 2020 voting, 47 ballot boxes containing approximately 11,500 ballots with no statutory documents.”
Further, he pointed out that ballots identified for one district were found in boxes of another district. Additionally, there were cases in where the number of persons voting exceeded the number of persons eligible to vote.
In the Election Petition Case – Claudette Thorne and Heston Bostwick vs. Chief Elections Officer and others (Petition 88) –Roysdale Forde, SC and a battery of lawyers will argue that not only was Order No. 60 invalid but also that the Law – Section 22 of the Elections Laws (Amendment) Act on which it was created, is unconstitutional and conflicts with the Representation of the People Act.
The petitioners, through their attorneys, are challenging the decision of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to conduct a National Recount of all votes cast at the March 2 General and Regional Elections using Order No. 60.
In the other Election Petition Case – No. 99 of 2020 – filed by Monica Thomas – Attorney Mayo Robertson said the team of lawyers representing the petitioners is expected to bring forward a list of witnesses in anticipation of a full trial.
Robertson, who forms part of a team of lawyers representing the petitioners, will argue that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) failed to conduct free and fair elections in keeping with its constitutional requirements and as such, the results of the 2020 General and Regional Elections, as declared by GECOM, be vitiated.
Robertson is appearing in association with Senior Counsel Rex McKay and Attorneys Khemraj Ramjattan, Darren Wade, Gary Best and Geeta Chandan-Edmond. They will address the issue of service come Tuesday, November 24, 2020.
