…Coalition ups calls for GECOM chair to accept CEO’s report
….urges swift swearing in of President Granger

By Svetlana Marshall
WITH the Chief Elections Officer’s Elections Report showing a win for the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), the Coalition’s Chief Spokesman, Joseph Harmon wants the results of the General and Regional Elections be declared, and President David Granger sworn in for a second term in Office.
The Elections Report, the third of its kind within the past four months, was submitted to the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh on Saturday (July 11) by the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield. According to Harmon, there is nothing stopping the Chairman and her commission from accepting the report, and as such, they must act with alacrity. “We are calling on her to accept the report as required under Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act and for her to declare David Granger as the President,” Harmon told the Guyana Chronicle.

In dismissing allegations that the CEO defied the orders of the GECOM Chair, the APNU+AFC spokesman said the Elections Report was compiled and submitted in accordance with the Article 177 (2) (b) of the Constitution, Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act and ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). Further, he said it is a reflection of the will of the people of Guyana as expressed during the General and Regional Elections held last March, and confirm that the APNU+AFC won the elections. “It is basically a confirmation that at all material stages, that the APNU+AFC had won these elections, and all of the processes through which we had gone, coming back to this point, have actually confirmed that,” Harmon said.

The Elections Report submitted is reflective of the declarations made by the Returning Officers in the 10 Electoral Districts in March. While the High Court had invalidated the March 5, 2020 declaration made by the Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo; his second declaration made on March 13, 2020 was never invalidated by the Court.

In fact, while the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) had initiated contempt proceedings in the High Court against Mingo on March 12; it withdrew the case in June over lack of sufficient evidence.

That decision, which came three months after the matter was initiated, did not sit well with the Chief Justice (ag) Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire, who chided Attorney-at-Law Anil Nandlall for wasting the court’s time when he was fully well aware that the application, as filed, did not meet the threshold for contempt of court proceedings. As such, the declaration made on March 23 stands.

However, in March and later in April, amid the PPP/C’s consistent claim of electoral fraud, GECOM agreed to facilitate a national recount, which was conducted in May-June. But the CCJ, in its July 8 decision, said that not only should the President and the members of the National Assembly be elected based on the declarations made by the Returning Officers, it made it clear that only High Court has exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate on the validity of an electoral process.
“If the integrity of a ballot, or the manner in which a vote was procured, is questioned beyond this transparent validation exercise, say because of some fundamental irregularity…then that would be a matter that must be pursued through Article 163 after the elections have been concluded,” the CCJ said. An Elections Petition could only be filed within 28 days of a declaration of the election results.

The CCJ, at the time, was ruling in a case brought by PPP/C’s Bharrat Jagdeo and Irfaan Ali against North Sophia Voter Eslyn David and others. In that case, Harmon had pointed to the widespread irregularities and cases of dead and migrant voters that had been detected during the national recount, which showed a win for the PPP/C, but the Court reminded that any challenge to the validity of the elections must come by way of an Elections Petition in accordance with Article 163 of the Constitution and the National Assembly (Validity of Elections) Act.

It is believed that the Chief Elections Officer submitted his latest Elections Report in accordance with the Representation of the People Act, on the basis that the national recount, conducted under Order No. 60, had corrupted the Electoral Process, and notably was not facilitated by Returning Officers as stipulated by the Representation of the People Act. Notwithstanding the challenges, Harmon said Guyanese should accept the CEO’s Elections Report. Such a move, he said will bring an end to the ongoing electoral impasse, and move the country forward.

“The Guyanese people are tired, they have waited for months; they have to deal with COVID-19 and all of these things are weighing [them] down; they are like the knee on the neck of the Guyanese people. And so we have to release them, we have to free up this country; we have to be able to let normalcy return to our country, and this is an important step in that direction, and everything has been done according to the law, and in accordance with the Constitution,” the APNU+AFC spokesperson said.
To Lowenfield and his staff, Harmon offered his deep gratitude for their demonstration of great professionalism. “We want to thank the Chief Elections Officer and his staff for a professional job,” he posited while iterating that Lowenfield’s Report is consistent with the Constitution, the Electoral Laws and the rulings of the court. It is unclear at this stage if the Justice Singh will accept the report, and proceed with a declaration, however, the opposition-nominated Elections Commissioners, are up in arms against the report.

As the country awaits the decision of GECOM, Harmon is urging Guyanese to remain calm. “We have waited a long time, we have been very patient and I would like to exhort all of Guyana to remain patient and to allow the commission to do its work, but even though I say that, I am saying to you that the commission must not sleep on its feet. The commission must act with alacrity; the chairman must do what she has to do, and let our country return to normalcy by next week,” he said. According to the Elections Report, the APNU+AFC secured 236,777 votes while the main Opposition – the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) got 229,330 votes.