Ballot boxes relocated to GECOM HQ
-party representatives riled by lack of notice
Representatives of the opposition PPP/C and three of the new parties that contested the March 2 general and regional elections were yesterday successful in their bid to be added as litigants in the lawsuit filed by APNU+AFC candidate Ulita Grace Moore, who has moved to halt a recount of ballots cast at the polls.
Following in-chamber hearings at the High Court yesterday, Justice Franklyn Holder granted the request of representatives of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C), The New Movement (TNM), Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) and A New and United Guyana (ANUG) to be added to the proceedings.
While Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, of the PPP/C, was added as a party to the proceedings, the request of private citizen Reeaz Hollader was denied, as the judge found that his application and Jagdeo’s application mirrored each other.
Hollader had earlier filed and was granted an injunction invalidating the initial declaration of results for Region Four, which has been at the centre of controversy.
Stabroek News was also informed that two other contesting parties, the United Republic Party (URP) and the People’s Republic Party (PRP), were hoping to make oral applications to be added to the proceedings, but this was not done.
Following the hearings, attorney Neil Boston SC, who represented the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), which is the respondent in the action brought by Moore, said that apart from her suit, both
Jagdeo and Hollader have filed applications seeking to set aside the second declaration of results made by the Returning Officer for Region Four, Clairmont Mingo.
On Monday at 1 pm the judge will hear submissions on a request of the parties to have the matters consolidated as they all deal with the same subject matter.
Given the need to first dispense with these preliminary hearings, attorney Anil Nandlall, who represents Hollader, was asked about a possible timeline for the hearing of Moore’s application.
In response, he explained that the judge has already indicated that on Monday he will give directions on written submissions.
Both Jagdeo and President David Granger had agreed to a national recount which was slated to begin since Monday.
An independent high-level team from CARICOM flew in last weekend to supervise the recount of ballots due to controversy over the tabulation of the votes cast for Region Four, which opposition parties as well as international and local observers say was not done in a transparent and credible manner.
Following the granting of injunctions to Moore halting the recount, however, the team has since withdrawn. Although the president has voiced his disappointment that the CARICOM intervention had stalled, he is yet to acknowledge that it was a member of his own party, the APNU+AFC coalition, who initiated the legal proceedings that was responsible.
On Tuesday, Justice Holder granted Moore injunctions restraining GECOM, its Chairperson and the Chief Election Officer from permitting or authorising any person or persons pursuant to any agreement between the president and opposition leader and/or any agreement between GECOM and CARICOM to count or recount any ballots cast by electors until an application for judicial review is heard.
The judge also granted an interim injunction restraining GECOM from setting aside or varying results already declared by the respective Returning Officers (ROs) of the 10 electoral Districts in the March 2nd elections until a determination of her application for judicial review.
Also granted was an injunction restraining Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield from submitting any report of the total votes cast for each list of candidates pursuant to Section 96 (1) and (2) of the Representation of the People Act, save and except the votes counted and the information provided by the RO under Section 84 (1), until Moore’s application for judicial review is fully heard an determined.
The CARICOM-facilitated full recount was announced last Saturday by CARICOM Chair, Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, who said Granger had made a request for CARICOM to field a team to supervise the recounting of the ballots in all regions. Jagdeo had agreed to this move, which followed a contentious vote count for Region Four that resulted in allegations of fraud.