Yesterday’s Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruling has been welcomed by Presidential Candidate Irfaan Ali and all of the small parties which contested the March 2 General and Regional Elections, and after four months of waiting they hope it will pave the way for a swift declaration and swearing in of Ali.
Some of the parties’ representatives have urged that Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield be fired, while others have called for international backing to ensure that the incumbent government doesn’t hold on to power illegally.
For Ali, the court’s clear ruling that votes from the recount process be used and that Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield’s report which disregarded over 115,000 votes be deemed invalid, also signals hope that democracy prevails for citizens and he urged Guyanese to unite for a better country.
“No doubt the Court’s decision has a far reaching impact for democracy not only in Guyana, but in the entire Commonwealth. The Court has made Guyana and indeed the entire of CARICOM proud in its swift delivery of a clear and cogent judgment,” he said in a statement yesterday.
The presidential candidate, who has been fighting for over four months to have the will of electors respected by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and the Chief Election Officer, said that he understands that some persons will be disappointed by the ruling but it shouldn’t impede their cooperation for the development of their homeland.
“While the Court’s decision will be embraced by many and similarly met with disappointment by others, we cannot ignore that Guyana faces significant economic and health concerns which we all need to immediately address as a united country. Each and every one of us has a duty as Guyanese to move Guyana forward and I reaffirm my commitment to all of Guyana to ensure that we retake our place as a respected and celebrated democracy where each and every citizen, regardless of background, can have an equal opportunity to enjoin all that our beautiful country has to offer,” Ali declared.
Ali, like his party’s General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo, thanked the smaller parties for their support and the party’s legal team for their prowess both at the local and regional court.
While not ruling out that there may be attempts to continue the delay of the process to see the PPP/C candidate sworn in, Jagdeo vowed that his party will continue to be vigilant until the will of the people is realised.
“That matter has to be settled. We expect the CEO (Chief Election Officer) to comply with the decision of the CCJ since he had cited guidance from the Court of Appeal decision, we expect him to now use the CCJ which is a higher court decision, as guidance in the preparation of his report… which has to be in accordance with the instruction given to him by the chair,” he said.
He warned that if Lowenfield wanted to be stubborn and submit another fraudulent report it would be “in contempt of court,” but that GECOM holds the power to discard those submissions.
Jagdeo said that government wants to cherry pick aspects of the constitution and there are some persons content with not accepting the ruling, but he and his party remain focussed and will not be distracted.
“APNU can’t pick and choose which court decision they want to respect. They were all in favour of the decision of the Court of Appeal but they themselves lauded the impartiality of the CCJ in the third term case. They will never accept anything except an APNU victory. Election or no election, no-confidence motion or no no-confidence motion,” he said.
“There is a small group of people who are hell bent on not conceding, but that is not a matter for us and all the law abiding citizens. Now we have to move forward with the lawful process… we hope that at the opportune time the commission though its chair will direct Lowenfield to submit a lawful report showing the valid votes cast as deemed valid by the certificate his staff signed that the declaration would be made on that basis… that would allow our country to move forward,” he added.
Counsel for the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), A New and United Guyana executive and attorney Timothy Jonas, lauded the decision for making it clear on what needs to happen so that there is no more legroom for stalling. But he does not believe that the GECOM Chief Election Officer will willingly adhere to the CCJ ruling, and if that happens then the Commission should fire him, appoint a replacement immediately and get on with the process.
Weary
He said that the people of this country are weary of the wait and their patience is at saturation point. “It now remains for Lowenfield to do his job. I have said periodically that the GECOM Secretariat has gone rogue. Lowenfield is the ‘chief cook and bottle washer’ in the rogue department… nothing tells me that he will happily concede and do what he has to,” Jonas told Stabroek News yesterday.
“It is my expectation that if he does not comply with the letter then GECOM needs to dismiss him summarily… get someone else to do it; appoint a CEO to do the job, because this country has been waiting for four months for this elections to come to conclusion. The election [process] should have taken 15 days [maximum],” he said.
His fellow party executive Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran believes that should Lowenfield again submit concocted figures, that GECOM should keep the report and replace his tallies with the correct figures.
“Keep the report and invalidate the numbers portion. He has made the report, and they in accordance with the judgment of the CCJ, can ignore the numerical figures,” he said.
He too wants to see a swift end to a process that he believes probably takes the world record for the longest declaration for an elections. “The chairperson can act tomorrow if she wants. All the members say when these decisions are made that they need a week. The decision is clear, they need just overnight and they can make the declaration by tomorrow evening. If GECOM wants we can get a declaration very, very soon,” he added.
Ramkarran, also an attorney for LJP, echoed much of what he had told this newspaper in an interview before; that that while the Commission can dismiss Lowenfield for insubordination, it would be a lot faster to simply ignore his report.
He argued that Article 162 (1) (b) of the Constitution grants the Commission the right to take any action necessary to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Constitution or of any Act of Parliament on the part of persons exercising powers or performing duties connected with or relating to the conduct of elections.
The Liberty and Justice Party presidential candidate Lennox Shuman expressed thanks to both Ramkarran and Jonas and to the CCJ “for its
expeditious address to our appeal in relation to the Court of Appeal’s ruling brought about by Elections 2020,” Schuman said.
“We call on the public to act in a manner that is reflective of our peaceful society. We also call on the political and constitutional actors to obey the CCJ’s ruling and for the Guyana Elections Commission to swiftly move to conclude these elections and to respect the will of the people,” he added.
Change Guyana Executive Nigel Hinds told this newspaper that the CCJ’s ruling was “quite detailed and extensive” but yet simple enough that there should be no misinterpretation of what the judgment is.
Hinds said that he has little faith in GECOM but calls especially on Chairperson Singh to do what is right and put a swift end to the ordeal.
“Many players have turned the Guyana Elections process into a circus and in my opinion GECOM has irredeemably tarnished the institution. We cannot continue along this path. I ask Justice Claudette Singh to act expeditiously in bringing this matter to a close. We at the Change Guyana Party have soldiered from the launch [of the party] to be involved in this process, which we feel could become an opening for the kind of rational governance, inclusive governance and caring governance… that is so badly needed,” he said.
He is also pleading with the international community not to allow the rule of law here to be broken or an illegal government to hold on to power.
“We ask the international community to take cognizance of what is going on and to act now instead of waiting for things to get worse. We ask that the Chairperson make a declaration. We are not convinced that the declaration will result in the illegitimate conceding power, but at least it will be one step in the path… where there will be nothing or no one to back their power,” he added.
