Chief Justice Roxane George dismissed the challenge made by the A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) regarding the process used to compile the List of Electors (or Voters’ List) for the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE).

The challenge was filed by APNU’s Chief Scrutineer, Carol Smith-Joseph, against the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), the Chief Elections Officer, the Commissioner of Registration, and the Attorney General.

In her ruling, the Chief Justice determined that Joseph’s application lacked merit as she failed to provide evidence to support her claims or the declarations she sought from the court.

The Chief Justice criticized Smith-Joseph’s affidavit and supplementary submissions for being of poor quality and lacking evidence of their source.

The Chief Justice stated, “The applicant must have known what she was producing to the court is unreliable evidence… There is no credible evidence before this court of ineligible persons being listed in the Registers of Voters.”

She found that GECOM had acted lawfully in compiling the List of Voters and had a constitutional duty to ensure that the registration of electors followed the law.

Expressing her disappointment with the case, the Chief Justice commented, “In my view that has turned out to be the most unmeritorious application that has taken up a lot of judicial time… The only positive thing that can be gained from this case is that it allows the Court to urge that Parliament must endeavour to harmonize elections laws and to resist piecemeal amendments that rang over many pieces of legislations.”

Consequently, she dismissed the application.

Smith-Joseph has been ordered to pay GECOM costs amounting to $250,000 before or on June 30, 2023.