29 DAYS AFTER ELECTIONS… Full Court throws out injunctions that blocked recount

The Full Court has thrown out the case filed by APNU – AFC candidate Ulita Moore to block the nationwide recount of votes cast at the March 2, 2020 Regional and General elections .

In a unanimous ruling yesterday, the Full Court, which comprised of Chief Justice (Ag) Roxanne George and Justice Narweshar Harnanan, ruled that the High Court does not have the jurisdiction to hear the application filed by Moore for an injunction to block the Guyana Elections

Commission (GECOM) from moving forward with plans to have a nationwide recount.

Moore had asked the court to inquire into the constitutionality of a decision made by GECOM to have a high level CARICOM team supervise a national recount of the votes cast in the March 2 elections. The Full Court yesterday discarded the decision by Justice Franklyn Holder in which he ruled that the High Court has jurisdiction to hear an application, despite objections from the opposing parties.

In the same vein, the Full Court discharged the interim injunctions granted by Holder and dismissed the substantive case before him. The Court also denied Moore’s attorneys a stay of their decision and also denied leave to file an appeal on grounds of an unlikely probability of success at the level of the Court Of Appeal. Moore‘s legal team nonetheless noted they reserve the right to appeal and will take the legal course of redress. In their ruling yesterday, the Full Court upheld the submissions made by lawyers for the Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo. Trinidadian Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes and his team had argued that Moore’s application should have been in an election’s petition. In delivering the ruling, Chief Justice Roxanne George noted that any meeting held by GECOM or its commissioners falls under Section 140 of the Representation of the People Act.

(Kaieteur News)