The PPP today slammed a report submitted to GECOM by Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield on the March 2nd recount of votes as ultra vires and in excess of his authority.
An edited statement by the PPP follows:
The Chief Election Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Keith Lowenfield, has submitted Matrices for the recount of the 10 Electoral Districts and a Summary of the Observation Reports for each district, along with required attachments, pursuant to the gazette Order made by GECOM, under which the national recount of ballots were done.
The relevant portions of the Order reads:
“The matrices for the recount of the ten (10) Electoral Districts shall then be tabulated by the Chief Election Officer and be submitted in a report, together with a summary of the observation reports for each District, to the Commission on or before 13th day of June 2020.”
It is clear from the above that Lowenfield has no power or authority or any mandate to offer a view, opinion or judgement of any type, either in the Observation Report or the Matrices to be tabulated. As regards the Observation Report, his singular duty was to summarize the various Observation Reports and in respect of the Matrices, his sole duty was to aggregate the totals in the Matrices.
In a clear and blatant violation of the Order, Lowenfield arrogated unto himself the role of an investigator, Judge and executioner and made conclusive findings, in respect of the wild, reckless and baseless allegations made by APNU+AFC and rendered a judgement on them, concluding that they were established, without doing any investigations, hearing no one affected and applying principles only known to himself.
Undoubtedly, in one swipe, Lowenfield has acted ultra vires, in excess of and without authority, in violation of natural justice, in abrogation of the separation of powers doctrine, unlawfully, unconstitutionally and the pronouncements that he has made are certainly null, void and of no effect. That his pronouncements and tabulations bear a striking resemblance to the contentions and calculations of the APNU+AFC have not gone unnoticed. He would make an excellent witness for the APNU+AFC at the trial of an Election Petition.
Worse yet, Lowenfield has indicted his own elections of which he was the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) and has in effect, conceded that he has committed Misfeasance in Public Office, an issue which will be pursued at another time. In so doing, he has also thrown under the bus thousands of Guyanese, who have worked diligently in the electoral machinery… Lowenfield has also rendered the entire Commission complicit in and culpable of spending approximately $8B of taxpayers’ dollars in holding elections that were not credible. This is same Lowenfield, who had prepared a Report on Mingo’s fraudulent declarations and was ready to submit it to the Commission.
It is clear that GECOM is enjoined by the law and the Constitution to ignore every aspect of Lowenfield’s Report, other than the General Elections Recount Totals and the Regional Elections Recount Totals. We recall the Chairperson of GECOM’s public statements, published on the front page of the Guyana Chronicle on the 3rd day of March 2020 that the elections were free, fair and credible.
We will keep the nation updated as events unfold.
