Acting Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire will commence hearing arguments at 2pm tomorrow and possibly rule on Sunday in the challenge seeking to block the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) from declaring the winner of the March 2nd polls.
This newest in a series of actions connected to the elections has been brought by Tucville resident Misenga Jones who wants the Chairperson to be prohibited from using the results of the national recount to declare a winner.
At a case management conference yesterday morning which was held virtually via Zoom and the Supreme Court’s first live broadcast, the judge set rigid timelines for an expeditious hearing as she underscored the national importance of the case.
Attorney Kim Kyte-Thomas who represents Chairperson retired Justice Claudette Singh who is as a respondent in the action, has given an undertaking that no declaration would be made by GECOM pending the outcome of the matter.
Stemming from a request made by attorney Maxwell Edwards who appears in association with Attorney General Basil Williams—another respondent in the action, Kyte-Thomas assured that, as has always been her client’s conduct, no action would be taken while the matter is before the court.
She pointed out that in all the previous litigation surrounding these elections; her client has restrained herself from taking any action during the pendency of court challenges.
Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes for the People’s Progressive party Civic (PPP/C) and attorney Timothy Jonas for The New Movement—two of several added parties to the proceedings expressed shock at Edwards’ request.
Pointing out that the AG’s position ought to be neutral; Mendes said he found it strange that a request for maintenance of the status quo was being made from that camp when counsel for the person who brought action hadn’t even made such a request.
Williams in response, however, advanced that as a respondent in the matter and the office he holds being guardian of the constitution such a request could be made.
Senior Counsel John Jeremie who represents Jones, however, made the very request.
Following Williams’ remarks, Jeremie who said that because of technical difficulties he had lost his connection during the hearing asked that the status quo be maintained.
The judge then informed him that Kyte-Thomas had already given such an undertaking.
Justice George-Wiltshire said that having read Jones’ application, among the core issues to be determined is whether Order No. 60 which facilitated the recount was/is valid for any declaration stemming from the recount.
Another issue she said is whether the declarations made by the returning officers of the 10 electoral districts can stand or would have to be set aside.
Justice George-Wiltshire said, too, that also to be examined is whether any of the declarations and orders being sought by the applicant were already determined by the courts in previous litigation.
The judge, however, pointed out that her jurisdiction to even hear the matter will first have to be determined.
At yesterday’s hearing a number of political parties which contested the March 2nd polls were granted requests to be added, given their interest in the matter.
In addition to the PPP/C and The New Movement were: The Citizenship Initia-tive, Change Guyana, A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), and the United Republican Party (URP).
Jeremie had no objections to the parties being added but expressed concern that given time constraints maybe just some should be added.
The Chief Justice, however, pointed out that she would not be able to make a judgement call as to which parties should and should not be added; while stating that in the interest of justice and fairness all the parties would be added.
GECOM and the Chief Election Officer are the other two named respondents in the action.
The judge set rigid timelines by which tomorrow’s hearing is to be guided.
The applicant’s submissions were to be submitted by 11 last night while all the respondents and added parties are to make their submissions by 10 this evening and the applicant if needs be, can respond to those submissions no later than 11 tomorrow morning.
The judge has further instructed that submissions are to be no more than 10 pages long.
The oral arguments have been set to commence at 2 tomorrow afternoon beginning with Jones’ attorney who will have 30 minutes to present, while an allotment of 20 minutes each will be given to counsel for the respondents.
The Commission (GECOM) is not represented by counsel.
The added parties will each have 15 minutes to make their presentations and the applicant 20 minutes to respond.
With most of the issues already canvassed in previous litigation, the chief judge has expressed the hope that tomorrow’s hearing would be swiftly dispensed with. Allowing for some breaks she said the hearing should conclude by 5:30 pm and has expressed her intention to rule on Sunday.
In her application Jones contends that Singh can only make a declaration from the report submitted by Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield and that neither she nor the Commission can dictate to him what his report should contain.
As a result, Jones asserts that GECOM is obligated to accept the CEO’s report of June 11th, in which he relies on the declarations made up to March 13 by the Returning Officers for the 10 administrative regions.
Those declarations, which were disputed due to the manipulation of the Region Four results, had been held in abeyance as the recount was agreed to. The recount showed the PPP/C won the majority of votes, while Lowenfield has sought to declare results in favour of the incumbent APNU+AFC.
Jones is asking the court to make a number of declarations, including that Singh has failed to act in accordance with the advice of the CEO in his most recent report as mandated by Article 177(2) (b) of the Constitution.
Following a ruling handed down by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) a week ago, Singh had instructed Lowenfield to submit a report using tabulations from the national recount of ballots cast on March 2nd.
Lowenfield has, however, repeatedly submitted reports which show a win for the incumbent.
