Lowenfield discards 25 percent of valid votes to give Coalition win

Just one day after the Court of Appeal ruled that “valid votes” must be used to determine the winner of the March 2, 2020 Elections, Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, submitted his final report to the GECOM Chairman, Ret’d Justice Claudette Singh with what he purports to be “valid votes”. In so doing he discarded more than 115,000 votes to hand the A Partnership For National Unity +Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) a victory and a one-seat majority in Parliament.Lowenfield,

in the cover letter of the report, stated that he has taken note of the guidance of the Court of Appeal in Eslyn David v Chief Elections et al in the preparation of his Report under Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act and providing advice as required by Article 177 (2) (b) of the Constitution.

His submission of this report, however, breaches the three-day stay of the judgment handed down by the Appeal Court following the ruling in the David case.

Additionally, a stay on GECOM’s moving to declaration is expected to be handed down by the CCJ following an application made by Opposition Leader Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo and PPP Presidential Candidate Dr. Irfaan Ali. The Appeal Court in a 2-1 majority decision ruled that that in determining the results of the March 2, 2020 Elections, Lowenfield must do so based on which party received the most “valid” votes.

(Kaieteur News)