…Justice Dawn Gregory rules in elections case

Justice of Appeal, Dawn Gregory on Sunday afternoon ruled that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) must always remain the constitutional body to supervise elections in Guyana, noting that the body cannot relinquish any aspect of that role.

The Appellate Court had convened on Friday to hear arguments on whether the Full Court erred when it ruled that the court has no jurisdiction to review the actions of the Elections Commission outside of an elections petition.

On March 17, 2020, Ulita Moore, a private citizen, secured four injunctions from the High Court blocking the elections commission from facilitating a national recount of all the votes cast at the March 2 General and Regional Elections, until the hearing and determination of her substantive application.

But while High Court Judge Franklin Holder established that the court had jurisdiction, the Full Court comprising Chief Justice Roxane George and Justice Naresh Harnananon, on March 31 discharged the injunctions and dismissed the application on the grounds that any challenge to decisions made by the elections commission could only be done by way of an elections petition. Moore through her attorneys moved to the Court of Appeal to appeal the matter.

In her ruling handed down at the Guyana Court of Appeal on Sunday, Justice Gregory allowed the appeal of Ulita Moore on the grounds that GECOM must not relinquish its role in supervising elections.

She stressed that the power of the High Court is to say that any arrangement or agreement to relinquish supervision of any aspect of elections.

Justice Gregory explained further that although Justice Holder found that the High Court does have jurisdiction on hearing the matter, while he recognized that he has such jurisdiction, at that stage the matter was discontinued before him.

She said too that that given the narrow jurisdiction, she does not see the point in returning the matter to Justice Holder adding that given the critical nature of the circumstances surrounding the matter, she would not see the point in returning the matter to the High Court.

Justice Gregory sat alongside Justice of Appeal Rishi Persaud and High Court Judge Brassington Reynolds.The court will make its consequential orders on the matter on Monday, paving the way for GECOM to make its next move.

On Friday, GECOM agreed to a recount of the ballots cast in the March 2, 2020 regional and general elections for all ten administrative regions, in a chronological order from Regions One to Ten.The commission said at the time that it was awaiting the outcome of the court matter before proceeding with the recount.

Commissioners  Vincent Alexander and Sase Gunraj noted on Friday that the commission was left to work out the modalities surrounding a recount while the body awaits the ruling of the court..