Georgetown: APNU/AFC’s Campaign Manager Joseph Harmon in his written submissions to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has confirmed that Guyana’s Court of Appeal did not, define the term “valid votes”.
He joined the proceedings on behalf of the coalition,
“…the Court of Appeal made no determination as to whether the votes cast were valid or not, and, imposed no criteria by which the validity of votes would be determined,” Harmon said in a written submission to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) by his Trinidadian attorneys Reginal T.A. Armour and Raphael Ajodha.
After supporting the report from Keith Lowenfield, the country’s Chief Elections Officer who discarded over 115,000 votes to calculate a victory for APNU+AFC at the March 02 elections, the Coalition’s Campaign Manager Joseph Harmon now says Lowenfield could not depend, as he claimed, on last Monday’s ruling of the Court of Appeal.
Article 117 (2) of the Constitution basically dictates that the party with the most votes cast wins the elections and the Court of Appeal in a 2-1 decision sought to interpret that to mean it would have to be the party with the most “valid” votes that wins the elections.
It gave no further directions or orders. Further, its decision is on hold as parties have appealed the decision to the CCJ.
However, Harmon’s submission to the CCJ contradicts a recent statement by the caretaker coalition. Following Lowenfield’s missive on Friday, the APNU/AFC in a subsequent statement backed the CEO, saying that he was clearly empowered and instructed by the Constitution and laws of Guyana, not by any other entity or person, and has discharged his functions within the ambit of the law.
The coalition’s missive further stated, “In keeping with the guidance set out by the Court of Appeal in Eslyn David v. Chief Election Officer, et al., and as he is required to do by the Representation of the People Act [at section 96], the CEO prepared and submitted his Election Report on 23rd June 2020.”
Last Tuesday, Lowenfield submitted his report to the Elections Commission, which the GECOM Chair has since rejected, with figures that he considers to be “valid”, showing the APNU/AFC in the lead with 171,825 votes while the PPP/C got 166,343 votes.
However, the certified recount figures, which has been deemed credible by all international and local observers, confirm that the PPP/C won the elections with 233,336 votes, that is, 15,416 more votes than APNU/AFC, which garnered 217,920.
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