APNU/AFC to respect GECOM Chair’s decision – Ramjattan

Hours after Guyana Elections Commission Chair, Claudette Singh, directed the Chief Elections Officer to prepare his final elections report using recount tabulation results, Leader of the Alliance for Change, Prime Ministerial candidate Khemraj Ramjattan, said the APNU/AFC would have to accept the declaration.

Ramjattan is quoted by local online news entity Demerara Waves as saying: “We’ll have to respect her decision. I have indicated that I certainly will; that’s my position, and we all agree that we are going to respect her decision.”
He is quoted by Demerara Waves as saying that the party is bound by the constitutional entity and, “…we are bound to by law, and we are bound by the procedures.”
“That constitutional entity is GECOM, and if GECOM makes the declaration, whether it’s by majority 4-3, or if it is a majority of seven; whatever it is, we respect that and we move on as a country. There’ll be lots to say by all politicians, but we’ll have to move on,” Ramjattan is quoted by the local online news entity as saying.
On April 21, Ramjattan told the media that if the National Recount shows that Peoples Progressive Party Civic wins the General and Regional elections, he will be the first to congratulate the party’s presidential candidate, Dr Irfaan Ali.
“I would immediately congratulate Irfaan Ali and tell him, ‘God bless,’ and, ‘I am here to give as much support as possible’,” Ramjattan had said.
However, while that party’s Prime Ministerial Candidate is ready to accept the declaration which will show that the APNU/AFC has been defeated at the 2020 polls, its campaign manager Joseph Harmon, in a social media live video, said, “no winner or loser” has been declared, and the party is awaiting the formal instructions given to CEO Keith Lowenfield for his final report.
On Tuesday, after considerable deliberations at the Commission on the report submitted by the Chief Election Officer, Chairperson of the Commission, Justice Claudette Singh, requested the CEO to prepare a report to ascertain the results of the elections 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. Justice Singh 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.
The Chairperson posited that she is of the opinion that some of the allegations are of a serious nature and must be addressed. However, 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 had 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 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.