SOPs must be displayed for all participants in process to see -Chief Justice says

Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh (centre) and Senior Counsel Neil Boston (at left) making their way out of the court room to attend a meeting yesterday morning.

Acting Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire yesterday emphasised that in the tabulation of votes for Region Four, the Statements of Poll (SOPs) must be displayed for all observing the process to see.

She was at the time addressing the court during a hearing at which attorney Anil Nandlall, on behalf of the opposition PPP/C, was seeking leave to file affidavits for a contempt of court action against the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Region Four Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo. 

In a bid to provide clarity to her previous ruling regarding the transparent manner in which the tabulation of votes for Region Four ought to be conducted, Justice George-Wiltshire yesterday morning painstakingly emphasised that the SOPs must be displayed for all observing the process to see. The visibly-frustrated Chief Justice was forced to reduce her explanation to attorneys on both sides, to elementary-level reasoning. She said that what she meant was that duly authorised persons looking on at the process had to see each statement, whether it was held up in the air or projected on a screen.