COME May 24, Chief Justice (ag), Roxane George, S.C., is expected to hear arguments in an application filed by the Commissioner of Police (ag), Nigel Hoppie, and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, S.C., for orders to obtain certified copies of the Statements of Poll (SoPs) and Statements of Recount (SoRs) from the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections. The documents, which are currently lodged with the Registrar of the High Court, are reportedly needed by the applicants for elections-related matters being heard in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court. The decision to move to the High Court came after the ‘Top Cop’ wrote the Registrar of the High Court, Sueanna Lovell, to obtain the certified copies of the documents, but was reportedly informed in writing that this could not be done without an order from the court.

The Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C., Lovell and the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) are listed as respondents in the case.
When the matter came up for hearing at the Demerara High Court on Friday, an oral application was made by attorney Nigel Hughes for his client, Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield to be listed as an intended respondent in the case. He is expected to serve affidavits supporting his application on or before May 19 on the other parties involved. The Chief Justice has set May 24, for hearing of the argument in the case.
On January 18, 2021, the Chief Justice had ordered that the SoRs and SoPs be lodged with the High Court for “safekeeping”, after she struck out one of the elections petitions that sought to overturn the results of the polls. The request for the documents to be lodged at the court was made by Attorneys-at-law Douglas Mendes, S.C., and Kashir Khan, who had informed the court that the Representation of the People Act allows for the Chief Elections Officer to destroy all elections documents after a 12-month period would have elapsed.

cordingly, Lowenfield on January 27, 2021 delivered the SoPs and SoRs to the Registrar of the Supreme Court. With several GECOM employees currently being prosecuted for their alleged misconduct during the elections, the DPP had advised and instructed the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to obtain certified copies of the SoPs and SoRs as part of their investigations and gathering of evidence for presentation to the lower court.
Those before the court are GECOM’s District Four Returning Officer, who was charged with four counts of misconduct in public office; Lowenfield, who was charged with three counts of misconduct in public office and three counts of forgery; and Roxanne Myers, Deputy CEO, who was charged with two counts of misconduct in public office.

The applicants are contending that the documents are necessary for the fair hearing of the charges, as they constitute relevant evidence for the prosecution to prove the commission of the offences.
The Commissioner of Police, by common law and statute, particularly Section 50 of the Criminal Law (Procedure) Act, has the lawful right to collect and recover all documents and property which are relevant to the investigation and subsequent prosecution. However, Registrar Lovell has informed him that she is unable to comply with his request without a court order.

But, the DPP and the Commissioner of Police have reiterated in their application to the High Court that it is imperative for them to be afforded access to the official copies of SoPs and SoRs, as they are relevant evidence to prove that those charged committed the offences.
While the documents can be easily obtained from the political parties, as they are in the public domain, the official documents lodged with the court by GECOM would be best to dispel any doubts as to their authenticity.
“If the prosecution does not have these documents, the hearing of the charges instituted will be inordinately delayed, because hundreds of witnesses will have to testify, in their stead, in the charges instituted, causing the case not to be afforded a fair hearing within a reasonable time,” the DPP wrote in her affidavit in support of the application.