The APNU faced another loss on Monday when the Court of Appeal (CoA) threw out the appeal concerning the dismissed Election Petition 88 of 2020, which was initially thrown out by the High Court two years ago.
Acting Chancellor of the Judiciary, Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justices Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud unanimously rejected the appeal and reaffirmed the ruling of Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George, S.C.
The Court of Appeal reaffirmed that there was no breach of the Constitution by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to make the elections “a sham or a travesty as claimed by the petitioners.”
The case was filed to challenge the Chief Justice’s ruling, who had dismissed the petition due to serious non-compliance with the Constitution of Guyana, electoral law and other infringements.
The applicants, Claudette Thorne and Heston Bostwick, filed the appeal some 18 months after the CJ had handed down her decision.
Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde, who is representing the petitioners, had contended that the Chief Justice erred in law and misdirected herself when she misapplied the doctrine of strict compliance.
Another claim was that the Chief Justice erred and misdirected herself when she failed to consider the objective of the petition in making her decision based on the content of the Affidavit of Service.
They relied upon the grounds that Section 22 of the Election Laws (Amendment) Act 2000 is unconstitutional, and by extension Order 60 of 2020, which authorised the elections recount process, was invalid, null, void, and of no effect.
However, the Chief Justice struck out the petition on the ground of serious non-compliance with the Constitution of Guyana and electoral laws as it relates to GECOM’s conduct of those elections.
The Court of Appeal upheld the Chief Justice’s ruling and similarly found that the petitioners failed to present evidence to support claims that the conduct of those elections contravened the Constitution and the country’s electoral laws.
“I agreed with the Chief Justice, that in its implementation, GECOM did not act unlawfully,” Justice Gregory said in her ruling.
Previously, the Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C., in his oral submissions, said that in addition to the absence of material facts, no foundation has been laid in the petition to establish any grounds upon which the elections can be vitiated.
When the matter was filed at the High Court, Thorne and Bostwick, in their documents, had asked the court to determine the legality of the March 2 elections recount, and the results that led to the declaration and allocation of seats in the National Assembly.
They sought an order directing the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh, to declare former President David Granger the winner.
Election Petition 99 of 2020, which was filed on behalf of petitioners, Monica Thomas and Brennan Nurse, was thrown out by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in October 2022.
The CCJ ruled that the CoA does not have the jurisdiction to hear and determine the appeal filed to challenge the dismissal of that petition. In January 2021, it was dismissed by the Chief Justice due to late service, non-service, or improper service.
