The ruling by Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George yesterday nullifying the unacceptable declaration of results on March 5th for Region Four provides a crucial opening to rectify what has threatened to derail the March 2nd elections and democracy.
GECOM Chair Claudette Singh and Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield must show leadership. The conduct of Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo raises serious questions about his intent. The resumption today of verification of the Region Four votes should be closely supervised by all stakeholders including Justice Singh.
Importantly, where the authenticity of Statements of Poll (SoPs) is challenged because of the interregnum, the verifiers must have recourse to the respective ballot boxes to finally establish the true count. Nothing else will suffice. Too much is at stake to permit further undermining of the will of the people.
We trust the CARICOM leaders who have kindly invested their time in trying to resolve this crisis will be able to elicit broad acceptance for such verification.
