Georgetown: Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo and PPP Presidential Candidate Irfaan Ali moved to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) seeking to overturn the decision of Guyana’s Court of Appeal which Monday, by majority decision, chose to say that in determining the results of the elections the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) must use “valid” votes.
As a result, a meeting which was scheduled by the Chair of GECOM for 11:00 hrs Tuesday was cancelled.
Jagdeo, in the affidavit, asked the CCJ to restrain GECOM from taking any further steps to determine whether the recounted tabulated by the Chief Election Officer constitutes “a final credible count”.
In its ruling Monday, the Court of Appeal did not grant any of the declarations seeking to block Lowenfield from submitting his report or from forcing GECOM to determine the credibility of the elections.
He also wants the Trinidad-headquartered regional court to prevent GECOM from otherwise enquiring into the validity or credibility of the tabulated votes pending the determination of this application and the Appeal for which special leave is sought.
Jagdeo also asked the CCJ grant any interim order it may deem fit from doing anything that which would usurp the exclusive jurisdiction exercised by the High Court under Article 163 of the Constitution of Guyana.
The PPP is arguing that the Guyana Court of Appeal had no jurisdiction to hear a case concerning the election of a President because that person a President has not yet been elected and the issue of the validity thereof had accordingly not yet arisen.
That political party does not want the Chief Election Officer from issuing his Report in keeping with the Representation of the People Act or any report that relies on the decision, including the modified interpretation of Article 177 (2) (b) of the Constitution of Guyana given by the Court of Appeal, pending the outcome of the appeal.
Article 177 (2) of the Constitution dictates that the party with the most votes wins the elections. But because the legal order for the recount signaled the need to establish the credibility of the elections, two of three Court of Appeal judges interpreted the meaning of the Constitution to say that the party with the most “valid” votes wins the elections.
All the claims made by Chief Elections Officer were identical to the actual claims of the APNU+AFC. The scrutineer for the recount process – a CARICOM High-Level team – has dispelled those claims. The team said what APNU+AFC did was to embark on a fishing expedition when it insisted that the names of dead persons and persons out of the country were marked off as having voted.
Jagdeo contended, as does the Chair of GECOM and five other parties which contested the elections, that the Court of Appeal did not have the jurisdiction, or power, to hear or determine the case as the Constitution particularly limits the Court of Appeal to only hear matters regarding the qualification of a person elected to be President.
And it is this position that Jagdeo maintains and has asked the CCJ to determine before Lowenfield submits his report.
Jagdeo further argues that what the Court of Appeal in effect did, by considering the recount order, was to review the decision of GECOM. This, he said, is in breach of Section 140(1) of the Representation of the People Act which prohibits any court from inquiring into whether any function of GECOM has been performed validly or at all.
Representing the PPP are by Mr. Douglas Mendes SC; Mr. Mohabir Anil Nandlall and Mr. Devindra Kissoon, Attorneys-at-Law.
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