Notice of Motion stopping elections declaration for arguments today

The hearing into the Notice of Motion filed in the Appeal Court by APNU/AFC supporter, Eslyn David, who is seeking to block the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) from moving ahead with the declaration of the results from the March 2 elections, commenced on Friday.

However, the matter was adjourned to 11:00h today as that first hearing dealt with case management issues.
Friday’s session saw the Court of Appeal panel – which consists of appellate Judges, Justices Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud, as well as High Court Judge, Justice Brassington Reynolds – granting permission for several political parties to join in the proceedings.
The Notice of Motion filed by the APNU supporter named Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield; GECOM Chair (retired) Justice Claudette Singh; the Guyana Elections Commission, and Attorney General of Guyana as respondents.
While the COA panel was present in court on Friday, the lawyers representing the various parties joined in virtually.

During the hearing, the applicant was represented by Attorneys-at-Law Mayo Robertson, Roysdale Forde and Keith Scotland, SC, led by John Jeremie (latter two from Trinidad and Tobago); GECOM Chair was represented by Attorney-at-Law Kim Kyte; while Basil Williams appeared in person alongside Maxwell Edwards.
There was no representation entered on behalf of the CEO or GECOM. This is although Lowenfield was present at the GECOM headquarters along with Justice Singh as they joined the proceedings.
Meanwhile, Justice Gregory, who led the appellate panel, allowed for representatives from the other political parties to join in the proceedings as respondents.

These include Presidential Candidate for the List of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic, Dr Irfaan Ali, and the party’s General Secretary, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, on behalf of the PPP/C; the three-joiner parties – A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) and The New Movement (TNM); as well as The Citizen Initiative (TCI) and Change Guyana (CG).
The PPP/C legal team was led by Trinidadian Senior Counsel, Douglas Mendes, SC, and included Attorneys Mohabir Anil Nandlall, Sanjeev Datadin and Devindra Kissoon.
The joiner parties were represented by Attorney Ralph Ramkarran, SC, in association with Timothy Jonas; while TCI and CG also joined the proceedings with Attorney Kashir Khan leading their case.
All the lawyers were ordered to file and serve their respective affidavits and written submissions before 06:00h, today. The case is adjourned for oral hearing of submissions at 11:00 am.

The court directed that each lead Counsel will be permitted 30 minutes to present their oral submissions, in addition to their written submissions.
Meanwhile, the court also ordered the lawyers for the various parties in the matter to file and serve their respective affidavits and written submissions by 06:00h today, so that the court, as well as the parties involved, can have a chance to be familiar with each other’s case before the hearing of the substantive case.
Justice Gregory impressed upon the Counsels to adhere to the timelines given as well as to condense their submissions to the court given the importance of the matter.
“We are concerned about time,” Justice Gregory stated. She also voiced the court’s concerns about repetition in the submissions of some of the respondents in the matter.
Nevertheless, at the end of Saturday’s hearing, the Appeal Court is expected to indicate a date for a decision on the matter.
In the meantime, GECOM has suspended its highly-anticipated meeting for CEO Lowenfield to submit his final elections report to the seven-member Commission pending the outcome of the court proceedings.
Lowenfield was scheduled to present his report since Thursday at 13:00h but failed to do this after being served with the Notice of Motion – although there was no order or injunction granted by the court to stop GECOM from still meeting.
The CEO was directed by the GECOM Chair to use the figures from the National Recount to compile his recount, which will show that the PPP/C has won the March 2020 elections by over 15,416 votes.
The Notice of Motion filed in the name of David, a Pike Street, North Sophia, Georgetown resident, is asking for a series of orders to stop GECOM from making a declaration of the results from the March 2 elections.
On Thursday, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo contended that the legal action is a “disguised” elections petition and should be dismissed by the Appeal Court.