Coalition supporters march through Georgetown forcing businesses to close

Dismissed election petition

…CJ’s decision reaffirms Guyana’s democracy – AG

Attorney General and Senior Counsel Anil Nandlall on Monday lauded the High Court’s decision to toss out election petition #88, noting that it is a decision that reaffirms Guyana’s democracy and the will of the people as expressed in the ballot boxes on March 2, 2020.

In a video broadcast after the decision, Nandlall noted that Acting Chief Justice Roxanne George’s ruling was well reasoned and sound in law. He noted that all the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) did by creating the recount, was to circumvent the problems Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo caused by departing from the law.
“This decision has confirmed that the will of the people as expressed at the March 2 elections have been vindicated. This decision has confirmed that the rule of law is operable in Guyana and that the elections were held in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of Guyana,” Nandlall said.
“This decision ought not to surprise any fair-minded person. This decision confirmed what all of us witnessed and were part of. All of us are aware of the difficulties that were attendant to the tabulation of results in region four, by Mingo’s use of a spreadsheet as the basis for tabulation, as opposed to the Statements of Poll.”

Nandlall pointed out that up to now, the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) is refusing to share its SoPs. He also noted that the National Recount carried out at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) was fair and balanced and was carried out only after litigation and agreements by GECOM itself.
“In this petition, they led no evidence. No evidence of the irregularities they’re complaining about. About the use of invalid votes. That there are absent statutory documents that would render the election invalid. Even assuming those are tenable propositions, they did not lead an iota of evidence to establish these allegations that they keep parroting.”

Misleading their supporters
The AG also chided the APNU/AFC leaders for continuing to mislead supporters, noting that even when the petitions were filed any lawyer could have told them that they did not have a case. Instead, APNU/AFC decided to press ahead with their cases, resulting in both petitions being thrown out.

“We have seen for the umpteenth time, how these political leaders in the APNU/AFC are so cruelly misleading their supporters… any person with a rational mind would have concluded (that the petitions were unlikely to succeed).”
“Yet when they were filed, they had a big commotion in front the High Court and announced to the whole world, including their supporters, that these are the petitions that will bring the PPP down. And that they were promising to their supporters that within months the PPP will be thrown out of office. Knowing full well that neither of the petitions had reasonable prospects of success. Worse yet, they did not serve one properly.”

Nandlall also posited that APNU/AFC has a track record of attacking Judges every time they rule against them. The Attorney General reminded that only last week the High Court ruled in the favour of the APNU/AFC in relation to the appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries.
“The Chief Justice was good then. Today, the Chief Justice has dismissed their decision, the Chief Justice is now a political appointee, I hear them saying that on Facebook,” Nandlall revealed.

Protest
The High Court’s dismissal of the coalition’s sole surviving election petition was greeted by protests from coalition supporters.
As APNU/AFC supporters took to the streets of the city, from Avenue of the Republic to Regent Street, Georgetown, businesses on the usually bustling Regent Street rushed to close their doors and secure their properties. Commuters were seen rushing off the streets as the APNU/AFC protesters marched along.
In Harmon’s statement announcing that they will be appealing the decision, he expressed disappointment in the Chief Justice’s ruling. At the same time, he ominously said that the party will not be responsible for how the masses react to the ruling.
“Today, like you, I am disappointed and feel let down…but I remain fortified that our hierarchy of courts will correct this clear injustice which has been wrought on the Guyanese people,” Harmon said in the statement to the media.
“The APNU/AFC cannot and will not be held responsible for the reaction of the victimised, disenfranchised and marginalised masses. We will continue to fight and we wish to make it clear that all options remain open to us.”
In his statement, Harmon reiterated many of the points that the Chief Justice had outlined that did not merit overturning the elections for. These include references to missing poll documents and claims of dead people voting. (G3)