Georgetown: The Court of Appeal on Thursday dismissed an appeal filed on behalf of A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition agent, Misenga Jones.
Justice Sewnarine-Beharry, who was the first to deliver her ruling in the case, dismissed Jones’ appeal, saying it is frivolous, vexatious and amounts to an abuse of the court’s process.
Jones is seeking to overturn the Chief Justice’s decision in a case she initially filed in a bid to compel the GECOM to utilise the 10 declarations by the Returning Officers as the basis for announcing the winner of the March 2 elections.
Justice Rishi Persaud has also dismissed the appeal filed by APNU/AFC supporter Misenga Jones who is seeking to overturn a ruling of the Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George who has determined that the recount results must be used as the basis of declaring the winner of the March 2 General and Regional Elections.
Justice Persaud also ruled that the Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield is duty-bound to prepare his final elections report using the recount results as directed by the GECOM Chair Justice Claudette Singh. He said there is no power for the CEO to act otherwise.
Justice Dawn Gregory-Barnes had also dismissed the appeal noting that the recount must stand for the final declaration while many aspects of the appeal dealt with res judicata.
Res judicata is a matter that has been adjudicated by a competent court and therefore may not be pursued further by the same parties.
Jones had challenging the ruling of the Acting Chief Justice (CJ) Roxane George-Wiltshire in which she determined that the figures derived from the recount of the March 2, 2020 Regional and General Elections is the only data that could be used for the declaration of the election results.
The recount figures show a victory for the Opposition People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) over the incumbent APNU+AFC.
As such, Jones an agent of the APNU-AFC coalition appealed the decision, listing several grounds in which she believes that the CJ purportedly erred in making her determination on the most recent case filed to block the declarations of the elections.
Jones had asked the Appeal Court to set aside the whole decision of the CJ on the grounds that the Judge inter alia erred in law when she held that the issue of Constitutionality on Section 22 of the Elections Laws Amendment Act was res judicata.
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