Appeal Court to rule on election petition case on Monday

The Court of Appeal will hand down its decision on Monday, November 27, in relation to the election petition #88, which the Opposition is seeking to have reinstated after it was dismissed by acting Chief Justice Roxane George over two years ago.
The Opposition had appealed the case, Claudette Thorne and Heston Bostwick vs Keith Lowenfield, which argues that the results of the March 2, 2020 elections must be invalidated on the grounds of serious non-compliance with the Constitution of Guyana and electoral laws as they relate to the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM’s) conduct of those elections.
This petition challenges Order 60 of 2020, under which the national recount of the 2020 General and Regional Elections was done.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall reminded that the Order being challenged by the Opposition is the very one crafted by its commissioners elected at GECOM.
“They sat and drafted a unanimous order. None of them disagreed with it. There was no vote taken on Order 60. GECOM sat down and made a decision that GECOM would recount the ballots in accordance with an order that they crafted, called Order 60. When the results did not suit the PNC, they challenged Order 60,” he contended.
The AG, however, pointed out that the People’s Progressive Party and its Government have a sordid record at the Court of Appeal in political matters, and the opposite at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
“I don’t think we have received a single favourable ruling since 2020, and that’s the record. I am not casting any aspersions…but the statistical data will show that we have not been able to get a favourable ruling from that Court in these political matters, and we have been able to get almost 100 per cent reversal when we go to the Caribbean Court of Justice.”
The Chief Justice had made it clear in her ruling that Article 162 of the Constitution of Guyana fully empowered the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to take whatever actions were necessary to conclude the elections, including the recount.
Justice George noted that had there been no difficulties with the election, then GECOM’s creation of Order 60 would have been illegal. However, she pointed out that even the election petition highlights the difficulties GECOM faced in arriving at a valid election result. Among her findings was that the petitioners failed to prove their case that there were substantial irregularities.
“Ultimately, despite the reliefs sought, this petition does not rely on the second limb of Article 163 (b) and Section 30 of the National Assembly Validity of Elections Act Chapter 104, that there have been unlawful acts or omissions affecting the results. Indeed, evidence that there were unlawful acts that affected or may have affected the result of the election have not been provided in this petition,”
Justice George had said.
“I hold that in order to exercise general direction, supervision over the elections, GECOM had to ensure the lawful and proper implementation of the RPA and Section 22. This was done lawfully by GECOM via Order 60, enabling it to issue instructions and take action as appeared necessary to resolve the controversies, as part of its responsibility to complete the election process.”
In relation to APNU/ AFC’s second election petition #99, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) found last year that the Court of Appeal erred when it took jurisdiction to hear it, which was dismissed by Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George, SC, on the ground of improper service on former President David Granger, and has therefore quashed the decision of the local appellate court.
The ruling by the Trinidad-based court effectively meant that Justice George’s January 18, 2021 decision stood; that the CoA could no longer hear the case; and that the petitioners Monica Thomas and Brennan Nurse had exhausted all their rights to appeal. (G-12)