Following today’s Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) rulings, the Western diplomatic community is calling on all sides of the political divide to respect the ruling of the regional court.

United States Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch, United Kingdom High Commissioner, Greg Quinn, Canadian High Commissioner, Lilian Chattergee and Head of Delegation of the the European Union to Guyana, Jernej Videtic noted in a joint statement, that “it is important that all sides respect the ruling,” adding that “we also encourage all to come to an agreement on the way forward.”

The CCJ today ruled that the no confidence motion against the government was validly passed and the appointment of the chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission(GECOM), Justice James Patterson was flawed.

The two landmark rulings have consequence for the governance going forward and the parties are to meet shortly to hammer out a consensus before the court makes any consequential orders. The judgments were delivered by President of the CCJ, Justice Adrian Saunders.

The motion which was cleared by the National Assembly and the High Court was invalidated by the Court of Appeal in March this year. The landmark ruling was made approximately one month after oral arguments were heard in the consolidated appeals challenging the Court of Appeal’s decision to invalidate the motion. The arguments were presented to a panel of five judges led by Justice Adrian Saunders in the Trinidad-based court.