-Let the procedural mechanisms run their course

Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh, has said that election disputes must go to Guyana’s Supreme Court.

Justice Singh made this known in a letter addressed to the presidential candidate of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), Aubrey Norton, in response to a correspondence he dispatched earlier today.

The Chairperson noted that the commission is currently awaiting the outcome of the recounts in sub-district four of District Four and the 77 ballot boxes in District Five, as requested by his party.

In response to his request for a ‘forensic audit’ of the elections or the complete annulment of the current electoral process, Justice Singh referred Norton to Guyana’s constitutional framework governing electoral disputes.

“Article 163 of the Constitution of Guyana explicitly stipulates that the High Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction to determine whether any question, whether generally or in any particular place, the election was lawfully conducted or the result thereof has been or may have been affected by any unlawful act or omission. This article clearly outlines the legal procedure for addressing concerns about the lawfulness of the election or its results,” she said in the letter.

Against this backdrop, she said that any claims of widespread irregularities necessitating a forensic audit or the annulment of the elections beyond the scope of the ongoing recount would fall under the purview of the high court by way of an election petition.

Justice Singh further urged all stakeholders to allow the established legal and procedural mechanism to run their course.