Come Monday, April 26, 2021 the High Court will rule in the Election Petition Case challenging the results of the 2020 General and Regional Elections as declared by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire made the announcement moments ago after hearing legal arguments by both the Petitioners and Respondents in the case – Claudette Thorne and Heston Bostwick vs. the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) and others.
In declaring the results of the elections, GECOM had relied heavily on Order 60 – the National Recount Order, however the petitioners, through their lead Attorney John Jeremie, have maintained that Section 22 of the Elections Laws (Amendment) Act, for which GECOM relied on to bring the Order into effect, is unconstitutional.
They have submitted to the Court that only Parliament could amend the Laws of the country, thereby ruling out the notion that GECOM had legal powers to amend the Election Laws to pave
GECOM’s Attorney, Senior Counsel Anthony Astaphan, on Wednesday, made it clear that the Commission will not concede that it erred. He submitted that the challenges that confronted GECOM during the elections, warranted GECOM’s intervention as provided for in the Constitution.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, through his attorney, Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes; and the Attorney General Anil Nandlall, S.C also argued in favor of the recount.
The CJ, in announcing the date for the ruling, said she had hoped to deliver the ruling within two weeks, however, given the arguments put, she has set April 26, 2021 as a tentative date.
