…expresses disappointment with Court of Appeal ruling

CAMPAIGN Manager of the APNU+AFC, Joseph Harmon, said on Thursday that his party is disappointed with the ruling of the Court of Appeal as it believes that the judgements were not “sound in law”.

On the other hand, General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), Bharrat Jagdeo welcomed the court’s ruling and urged swift action by the Elections Commission to conclude the elections based on the national recount data.

On Thursday, Guyana’s Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed an appeal challenging the legality of the Recount Order in the Misenga Jones v The Guyana Elections et al matter. The Court also ruled that any challenge to the recount must come by way of an elections petition and that Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield is subject to the directions of the commission. Responding to the decisions, Harmon said: “The Guyanese people have certainly examined, in a more meticulous way, the manner in which their Justice system functions. They will look at it much more seriously because they’re seeing the flaws that are coming out in these judgements.”

In his opinion, the CCJ, the Court of Appeal and the High Court have skirted around the issue of national importance making their decisions not the entirety of the law. He said that they have failed to consider that this important juncture in the history of Guyana will set the pace for the future and how the Constitution and other Laws are interpreted.

Even so, he vowed that the APNU+AFC coalition remains committed to the rule of law and abides by the decisions of the court. However, the APNU+AFC iterates that, when the matter goes to GECOM, only valid votes must be counted in the final declaration. “Fraudulent votes cannot be the basis for a final declaration to be made. This is our firm position,” he said. Later, while on an APNU+AFC programme, the Campaign Manager spoke directly to supporters, locally and abroad, when he said: “Remain focused, remain calm and remain positive that in spite of all that is happening that we can still get out of the Chairman of the Elections Commission, a declaration that is based on valid votes and no fraudulent votes. We remain very confident about that.”

Meanwhile, in an online briefing on Thursday, General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), Bharrat Jagdeo said that the matters filed were already filed in other cases and decided upon either by the Court of Appeal or the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

“This is an abuse of the Court. APNU is relitigating issues that have already been litigated and decisions made and the Chief Justice had some harsh words in that regard that we cannot be doing the same thing over and over in a never-ending cycle. All of this with the purpose of delaying the declaration of the result,” he said.

He added that the Court of Appeal had reaffirmed the position that the matter of the election rests in the hands of GECOM and that the Recount Order was endorsed by the CCJ and can only be challenged through a national recount.

Jagdeo said: “The commission now has the power to make the final declaration and they have their final say, not Lowenfield and Lowenfield is subjected to the directions of the commission.” While the court granted a 24-hour stay to the matter, the PPP/C Executive argued that Chair of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh is under no obligation to adhere to this stay when clarity was not given on why it was granted. He urged Singh to “act urgently” because Guyanese have waited far too long for a conclusion to the elections.