An appeal has been filed to challenge the ruling of Justice Navindra Singh who earlier this week dismissed an action filed by People’s Progressive Party (PPP) candidate Shafraz Beekham to void the listing of 50 names, including his, as official nominators of rival Alliance For Change (AFC) candidates in the Whim/Bloomfield, Corentyne area.
In the appeal, filed by his attorney Anil Nandlall, Beekham is arguing, among other things, that the judge erred and misdirected himself in law by predicating his decision on a police report which consisted “inadmissible evidence, incredible assertions and unsolicited conclusions” as opposed to being guided by relevant legal principles and sworn affidavit evidence of the over 50 persons which were before the Court.
In a fixed date application, Beekham, of Letter Kenny Village, Corentyne, had said that he and 49 others were “misled/ deceived” by an AFC representative into signing as a “nominator/supporter” on the AFC’s lists of candidates.
He said assuming but not admitting that the police report was based upon and constituted admissible and credible evidence upon which the judge could have premised his decision, he erred by failing to take into account and giving appropriate weight to the more than a dozen assertions which lend to the clear inference or conclusion that the persons whose signatures appeared as nominators of candidates for the AFC in the Whim/Bloomfield Local Authority Area did not understand the nature and purport of the documents that they signed.
Based on a police report presented to him, Justice Singh ruled at the High Court in Berbice that the allegation that the AFC fraudulently procured the names of residents listed as backers of its candidates for the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE) in the Whim/Bloomfield Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) area could not be established.
Beekham is, however, contending in his notice of appeal that those who procured the signatures did so by misrepresenting themselves as representatives of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) or persons associate with the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)
He argues that those who procured the signatures did so by misrepresenting the nature and purport of the documents for which they were soliciting the signatures. He also states that various forms of inducements were offered in the solicitation of the signatures.
According to Beekham, none of the persons procuring the signatures explained or even attempted to explain that they were candidates, activists/supporters of the AFC, and that they were procuring signatures as nominators for candidates of the AFC for the upcoming LGE.
The appellant contends further that Justice Singh erred in so far as he failed to appreciate the fundamental legal requirement that the persons who are required to sign a form in support of a candidate at the local government elections are persons who are genuinely in support of the political party which that candidate represents and the candidate himself/herself and that the signature on that list is an expression and manifestation of that support.
The judge’s decision, he argues, is not only erroneous in law but flies in the face of Article 147 of the Constitution, which guarantees to every citizen the right to support and associate with a political party of his/her choice.
Making it clear that he was complaining about the whole of Justice Singh’s ruling, Beekham is hoping to have it set aside by the Appeal Court, while calling it arbitrary, capricious, whimsical and misconceived in law.
The appellant is also asking the appellate court to give clear guidance on the legal principles raised in his appeal for the conduct of future local government elections.
Orlando Christopher Persaud and Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield are listed as the first and second-named respondents.
Beekham, in his application to the High Court, had asked for writs directed to Persaud to quash his decision to refuse to withdraw/remove/delete his name and the names of 49 others from the lists of backers of AFC Constituency Candidates in the Whim/Bloomfield area for the LGE, and to compel him to so do.
He had contended that unless Persaud is compelled to withdraw/remove/delete his name and the names of 49 others appearing on the lists of backers, the election in the area would be “tainted with illegality and fraud.”
That court action was initiated days after the AFC accused the PPP of bullying, coercing and duping backers into recanting their support, while the PPP had claimed that its supporters were deceived.
Nandlall and attorney Adrian Anamayah who also represents Beekham, had both contended that the police report presented was “doctored.”
