Court action to block declaration would be an abuse of legal process – Nandlall

Any court action by certain political elements to prevent the official declaration of the final results of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections as derived from the National Recount process, would be a “misconceived use of the legal process.”

This is the view proffered by former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration, Anil Nandlall, who was on Monday responding to questions from the media outside the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, where the final tabulation process was being wrapped up.
“There should be no court action; at least not challenging the results before the declaration. Once filed before, that seeks to stop the declaration or seeks to impugn the results produced by the National Recount prior to the declaration of the results, and not by an elections petition; in my humble view, would be misconceived use of the legal process,” Nandlall said.
In fact, Nandlall noted that APNU/AFC, a coalition party that is dominated by persons of the legal profession, should know better. These lawyers include the influential Joseph Harmon, incumbent Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman, the President’s principal legal adviser, Attorney General Basil Williams and coalition candidate Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde.
“By which system of law or logic, would you invalidate those voters vote? When they have committed not a single wrong and they are exercising a right? And nobody at GECOM can do anything about it. Because they have to be heard. Every single voter. Natural justice says you cannot take a man’s right away, without hearing him. A fair hearing, which includes allowing him to be represented by a lawyer of his choice, before a tribunal established by law.”
“GECOM is not equipped with that wherewithal. So, Harmon knows the right thing. Harmon is a lawyer with over 25 years standing. Harmon is playing politics. Roysdale Forde knows the right thing. Basil Williams, I hope he knows the right thing. We practice this law together. They were in the Esther Perreira case. They won that case. They didn’t win it at GECOM. They had to go to the High Court.”
During the recount exercise, the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) had arbitrarily raised a number of objections, claiming that certain persons who ‘voted’ at the March 2 polls were either dead or migrated.

Delay tactics
Several political stakeholders had accused the coalition of merely trying to delay the recount by getting GECOM to go on a wild fishing expedition to verify their claims of voter fraud. Immediately after the allegations were made, it was proven that hundreds of these persons whom the APNU/AFC claimed were out of the jurisdiction but ‘voted’, were, in fact, present in Guyana at the time of voting. Also, several of the persons whom the coalition claimed were dead but ‘voted’ were found to be alive and well.
In spite of the coalition being proven wrong, it is repeating the outlandish claims that there was voter fraud on E-Day, and hence, has signalled its intention to reject the results coming out of the National Recount.
However, Nandlall in debunking the baseless claims once more, reminded that these are all matters that would have to be addressed by way of an elections petition, after the declaration of the results and a President is sworn in.
“Those are matters that ought to form the subject of an elections petition and present to an elections court by the proper procedure, once the declaration of the results is made,” he noted. “What Harmon and the others are coming here to do is politics. But I have a problem when lawyers trample upon the law for political gains. That should not be done.”
The tabulation of votes recounted during the National Recount exercise was completed on Monday and it has confirmed that the PPP/C won the 2020 General and Regional Elections. According to the vote tabulation, the PPP/C secured 233,336 votes while the APNU/AFC garnered 217,920 – a difference of 15,416 votes.
A New and United Guyana gained 2313 votes; Change Guyana got 1953; Liberty and Justice Party won 2657; People’s Republic Party received 889; The Citizenship Initiative won 680; The New Movement garnered 244, and United Republican Party received 360.
Meanwhile, this publication was told that a meeting was held with the top brass of the PNC, APNU and AFC on Monday afternoon where discussions were proffered on legal manoeuvres to block the declaration. Among the issues discussed was the ability to find a sympathetic Judge that will hear such a case.