…Gov’t commissioners disappointed with GECOM Chair’s ruling on declarations

THE landmark decision by the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh to have the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, prepare a report for the declaration of the results for the 2020 General and Regional Elections, using data from the National Recount, did not win the support of the government-nominated commissioners – Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman.

“I am not in agreement but that is the fact of the matter,” Alexander told reporters moments after exiting a meeting of the Elections Commission at GECOM’s Headquarters on High and Cowan Streets, Kingston, on Tuesday.

Hours ahead of the Chair’s decision, the government-nominated commissioners had made a case for the Elections Commission to nullify the General and Regional Elections held on March 2, 2020 on the grounds that the CEO, in his report on the National Recount, concluded that the elections were far from credible. The Secretariat, during the 33-day National Recount at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), had unearthed thousands of anomalies and cases of voter impersonation, which, in effect, have compromised more than 229,000 votes.

In delivering her ruling, the Elections Chair said that while the anomalies were grave, the Elections Commission did not have the jurisdiction to investigate the malpractices, anomalies and cases of voter impersonation. Pointing to Article 163 of the Constitution, Justice Singh told the Commissioners that the High Court had exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate on such matters by way of an elections petition.

“What is significant is that the Chairman has acknowledged that the issues raised are significant but I think it was her disposition that rather than the Commission pronounce on those issues, that those issues should form the basis for an election petition, rather than a Commission making a pronouncement on it,” Corbin said as he weighed in on the decision.

Due to the anomalies and cases of electoral fraud, the CEO, in his report, separated the votes that were compromised from those he deemed credible. Corbin reminded that the intention of the National Recount was to deliver credible elections to the people of Guyana in accordance with Article 162 of the Constitution. “We have presented all of the arguments validly to indicate that [but] from the nature of the ruling, it did not come down to whether or not that was so, it appear to come down to who had the jurisdiction,” Corbin posited.

Even in wake of the Chair’s decision, Trotman maintained that the National Recount was not designed to generate numerical data but to ascertain the credibility of the elections. “For me that is important,” he said while expressing disappointment. “I am deeply disappointed by the decision,” he said.

Opposition-nominated Commissioners – Robeson Benn, Sase Gunraj and Bibi Shadick – had lobbied the Chair to have the results of the elections declared based on the votes tabulated during the National Recount, and nothing else. This cause was led by Benn.

The CEO, in his final report to the Commission, will be expected to compile it based on all the votes tabulated during the National Recount, which shows the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) in the lead by 15,000 votes.

The report is expected to be prepared in accordance with Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act and Order 60 of 2020 and its addendum to allow for the official declaration of the results of the 2020 General and Regional Elections.

Gunraj, in an interview with reporters, said it is his expectation that the CEO’s Report be delivered in short order. Once the report is submitted, the declaration will be made at a time decided upon by the Chair of the Elections Commission.