Every Guyanese can now breathe a sigh of relief, after waiting for over fifteen weeks for a credible winner of the March 2 General and Regional Elections to be declared. The nation’s patience was really tested as the drama of the political crisis which engulfed the nation following a blatant attempt to derail the electoral process unfolded on live television.
In a widely expected move, after intense discussions over the past two days, the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice Claudette Singh, yesterday instructed Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield to prepare his report for an official declaration of votes cast in the March 2020 polls based on the results of the National Recount. The National Recount was certified by the Caricom Observer Team and all other observers present as credible and reflecting the will of the people. Lowenfield is now required to act with haste and prepare his report for the Commission’s declaration under Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act, Chapter 1:03, and in keeping with Order No. 60 of 2020 and its addendum dated 29th May, 2020.
The Chairman’s landmark decisions will go down in history as not only being legally sound, in keeping with the Constitution of Guyana, but also very crucial in retuning this country to a democratic path.
We had said on many occasions that Guyana cannot claim to be a democracy when there is an absence of free and fair elections. In a democracy, citizens must have the right to vote for a party of their choice, their votes must be honestly counted, and a rightful winner must take the reins of power only on that basis. The unsubstantiated claims made by the APNU/AFC Coalition, of voter impersonations and ghost voting etc., had created much controversy. Everyone knew that these were just “fishing expeditions” by the Coalition, to have the elections nullified after it was clear that they were badly beaten at the polls.
However, the Chair was on target with her decision in every respect. She asserted that the Commission does not have the powers of a Court of Law to examine and re-examine witnesses or to procure official documents to determine the truth of the allegations contained therein.
She also correctly reasoned that Article 163 (1) (b) of the Constitution confers on the High Court the exclusive jurisdiction to determine the validity of an election. She explained that in order to give itself the authority to conduct the national recount, GECOM resorted to Article 162 (1) (b) of the Constitution to take such action as appear necessary or expedient to ensure impartiality and fairness.
In this regard, GECOM could not have clothed itself with jurisdiction to establish itself as a Court of Law to determine credibility of an election, when Article 163 (1) stipulates that the High Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction to determine the legality of an election.
Justice Singh also noted that the Commission cannot arrogate to itself a jurisdiction to annul an election, since no specific power was conferred on it under Article 162 (1) (b). A perusal of Articles 162 and 163 of the Constitution shows that the Articles clearly and sharply separate the functions of GECOM and the High Court respectively in matters of electoral process.
Justice Singh must be commended for taking a bold stand on the side of democracy. In the face of mounting pressure and threats, she has delivered, and as a result of her landmark decisions, Guyana will be a better place.
Our hope now is that outgoing President David Granger and his team would do all that is necessary to ensure there is a smooth transition of government. The nation now depends on Granger to do the honourable thing and concede defeat. It could be recalled that when the then PPP/C Government lost the elections by a razor thin majority in 2015, they provided the necessary assistance to the incoming administration and gracefully left office.
That said, while the PPP/C is the legitimate winner of the elections and will take the reins of power, the entire Guyana must see themselves as winners, since it means that after all of the political rivalry between the two main political groups, our democracy has prevailed.
Certainly, these elections have caused much division in our nation. It is now time for our leaders to act with a high level of maturity and work together to move our country forward.
