Chief Justice affirms elections must be held by Sept 18

…needs evidence H2H exercise will preclude same

The High Court has denied an application for an interim conservatory order to block the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) from continuing its House-to-House Registration exercise that began on Saturday.
This was revealed following the hearing of the application on Tuesday. According to former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, counsel for the applicant Christopher Ram, the order was not granted since Chief Justice (CJ) Roxanne George required more evidence as to the unconstitutionality of the exercise.
“The Chief Justice did not grant the conservatory order which we sought to restrain the registration process,” Nandlall explained. “But significantly, the Chief Justice emphasised that she understood that the CCJ ruled that the elections must be held by September 18”.
“And she said that very clearly, that that is what the CCJ ruled in accordance with articles 106 (6 and 7). However, she said that we have not satisfied her on the affidavit that there is enough evidence to show that GECOM is not acting to complete this process and hold elections within that time”.
As such, Nandlall is expected to file an affidavit to this effect. However, the former Attorney General maintained that GECOM cannot complete the exercise in time for the constitutionally mandated elections by September 18.
“The whole country knows that it will go beyond. Because they are constructing a new list. They are saying that the list is bad. And there is no way that this exercise, starting from citizen number 1 to citizen number 750,000, can be concluded within and for the holding of an election by September 18”.
Nandlall reminded that the list has to be compiled, then there has to be claims and objections to the list itself and then it has to be extracted from the national register to the voters’ list.
“Then you have to put everything in place for elections. By what logic can that be concluded by September 18? Of course, we have to put that in an affidavit to persuade the Judge”.
Nandlall also noted that apart from the unlawful extension in power the Government would have from the exercise, it violates the National Registration Act. He pointed out that the exercise can deregister persons who are already entitled to vote but might be out of the jurisdiction at the moment or not at home.
Meanwhile, Attorney-at-Law Neil Boston’s request for 14 days to present his written arguments was denied by the CJ, who gave him up to July 29 to submit his affidavits. Boston is representing GECOM’s Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield.
Nandlall and team, who this publication understands have filed an affidavit with the additional evidence for the CJ as of Tuesday afternoon, were given until July 31 to respond to these filings, with the Chief Justice ordering that all relevant submissions be laid over with the Court by July 31.
The Guyana Bar Association, which will be represented by its President Teni Housty and prominent Attorney Sanjeev Datadin, was also given leave to join the proceedings as a party and make written submissions. The case will meanwhile be heard on August 2nd.

290 days
Nandlall’s affidavit containing additional evidence cites the work plan presented by Lowenfield, which shows that House-to-House Registration will take 290, and not the 90 days GECOM claimed it would take. This work plan was presented to the CJ as an exhibit.
The affidavit also refers to and includes as an exhibition the order issued by former GECOM Chairman retired Justice James Patterson and published on the June 11, 2019, in the Official Gazette. This order was cited by Lowenfield as the basis for carrying out House-to-House Registration.
Interestingly, however, the order itself states that the house- to-house exercise will begin on the July 20, 2019, and end on October 20, 2019, showing that elections cannot be held by the September 18 deadline envisioned by the Chief Justice.
The house-to-house exercise, which was last conducted in 2008, will see enumerators going in teams of two to three, from door to door in various communities across Guyana. The enumerators will present forms to registrants to fill up, as well as take fingerprints and pictures.
It is understood that these enumerators work from 15:30h to 18:30h during the week and from 9:00h to 16:00h on weekends and holidays. The exercise is intended to produce a new National Register of Registrants Database and Official List of Electors.
This means that everyone, regardless of whether they were registered before or not, must register anew at their place of residence between July 20 and October of this year.

Citizen
The requirement for proof of residency has produced alarm for overseas-based Guyanese, to the point where a Court case was filed earlier this year by an overseas-based Guyanese against House-to-House Registration on the basis that it would disenfranchise her.
In her Court filings, Bibi Zeenatoun— a retired teacher and citizen of Guyana— had sought Writs of Prohibition and injunction and a conservatory order against GECOM.
Her fixed date application had stated that she worked in the United Kingdom from 1980 until her retirement in 2014. She then acquired property and maintained a residence in that country. Besides her citizenship, however, she has family ties to Guyana that include an adult son and his two children.
According to the application, Zeenatoun, “fears that she will be excluded from the proposed exercise of House-to-House Registration and, thereby, in effect, be de-registered and in consequence thereof, she will be unlawfully denied her statutory and constitutional right to be registered and to vote”.
“The applicant’s right to vote will and can be protected if the Respondents were to engage in continuous registration as provided for in Section 6 (1) of the National Registration Act Cap. 19:08,” the application advised.
Nandlall revealed, however, that this case was withdrawn following the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruling since it was expected that GECOM would comply and kick into election mode. In hindsight, he noted that had that case been allowed to continue, they might have been able to get an order blocking GECOM by now.