Opposition-nominated members of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) are cautiously hopeful that the torturous elections will end today at 2 pm when Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield submits a report of the “valid votes counted in the National Recount as per the Certificates of Recount.”
GECOM Chair Claudette Singh wrote Lowenfield yesterday setting the deadline for the report which signalled that she intends to abide by the recount result.
“The request was very specific. I hope Lowenfield brings that report. I hope [the elections] are finally at an end and we can make a declaration today,” Opposition-nominated Commissioner Bibi Shadick said in an invited comment. Her colleague Sase Gunraj expressed similar hopes but said he won’t be relaxing just yet.
“I’m very happy with the letter but at this rate I won’t relax until I hear singing…until I hear a fat lady singing,” he joked.
Stabroek News attempted to reach out to the three government-nominated members of the Commission: Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman but up to press time none could be reached.
The request which has been made of Lowenfield was contained in a letter written by Singh who has scheduled a meeting of the Commission for 1 pm.
In the letter seen by Stabroek News, Singh pointed out to Lowenfield that in accordance with Section 18 of the Election Laws Act No 15 of 2000 he is subject to the “direction and control of the Commission”.
She added that in accordance with that section, and pursuant to article 177 (2) (b) of the Constitution and Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act Cap 1:03, the CEO is “hereby requested to prepare and submit [his] report on the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections by 2 pm on 10th July 2020, using the valid votes counted in the National Recount as per Certificates of Recount generated therefrom.”
It is the second such letter sent by Singh to Lowenfield. A similar letter sent on June 16 asked the CEO to submit his report using the result of the recount.
These results show a victory for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) whose list of candidates has secured 233,336 votes compared to the 217,920 garnered by the incumbent APNU+AFC coalition.
Instead of complying with this request Lowenfield submitted a report of what he claimed to be “credible and valid” votes. The report invalidated a total of 115,787 electors showing a total of 171,825 votes cast for the APNU+AFC compared to 166,343 for the PPP/C. He said that he had submitted the report in accord with a Court of Appeal ruling which addressed the term “valid” votes.
In response to an article published by Stabroek News which labelled his actions “insubordination” the CEO argued that he is not compelled to follow the directives of the Commission.
“At all times, I have acted in conformity with the laws,” he claimed.
The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) disagreed with this contention noting in their ruling on Wednesday that it was inconsistent with the constitution for the CEO or the Commission to disenfranchise thousands of electors in a seemingly non transparent and arbitrary manner, without the due processes established in Article 163 and the National Assembly Validity of Elections Act.
The Court also ruled that the local appellate court acted outside its ambit when it pronounced on the constitutional meaning of “votes cast” at the March 2nd polls.
Following this ruling a meeting of the Commission was scheduled for yesterday to finalise the declaration of results. This meeting was postponed to facilitate a request from the government- nominated commissioners to study the judgment.
Shadick posited that the hour between the convening of today’s meeting and the delivery of Lowenfield’s report is likely to facilitate a discussion of this judgment.
“She is giving them a chance to say what they understand of this ruling. I think it is pretty clear. I don’t need time to study it,” she noted.
Gunraj explained that by setting aside this time the Chair is exercising all the pillars of natural justice.
“She has done everything that is in her power. She has exercised the pillars of natural justice by allowing the other side to be heard and to brief themselves on the judgment and she had also taken the step she is empowered to take and written to the CEO,” he explained.
The question remains whether Lowenfield will comply with the requirement and if he doesn’t what will the GECOM Chair do?
