Only successful election petition can determine Govt not legitimate – Norton

…seeks meeting with GECOM on new voters’ list for LGE

New Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Aubrey Norton is contending that only the election petition case will determine whether the present Government is legitimate.
The recently-elected party leader was questioned on Tuesday during a press conference whether the new Opposition Leader would recognise the PPP/C as the duly elected Government.

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo and Prime Minister, Retired Brigadier Mark Phillips have both indicated that the Government is willing to meet with the new Opposition Leader in the interest of the country.
However, Norton said his party does not have the authority to pronounce on Government’s legitimacy.
“The question of the legitimacy of the Government has to be determined by an election petition. It is not a case of the Leader of the Opposition or the Leader of the Party just deciding the Government is legitimate. Legitimacy comes from elections in this regard,” he told the media.
He added, “If perchance, it (the election petition) comes out saying that the Government was elected properly, then they will be legitimate”.
The recount of the 2020 General and Regional Elections showed the PPP/C winning the elections with 233,336 votes. At that time, caretaker President David Granger, on August 2, 2020, conceded defeat, stating that his party’s concerns would be filed in an elections petition.
Three weeks ago, Chancellor of the Judiciary, Yonnette Cummings-Edwards made the decision to grant Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, and the Vice President – in his capacity as People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary – leave to appeal to the CCJ, the decision of December 21, 2021, to hear the election petition number 99.
The Court of Appeal had handed down a 2 to 1 majority ruling that it had jurisdiction to hear an appeal against Chief Justice Roxane George’s decision to dismiss election petition #99 based on improper service/non-service on the second-named respondent, former President David Granger, within the statutorily prescribed time.
The petition, which was dismissed on January 18, 2021, was filed by Monica Thomas and Brennan Nurse and challenges the results of the March 2, 2020 national elections with the intent of having Granger declared the duly-elected President.
The majority ruling was delivered by Chancellor of the Judiciary, Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justice of Appeal Dawn Gregory, SC, while Justice of Appeal Rishi Persaud had a dissenting judgement.
In their ruling, Justices Cummings-Edwards and Gregory held that to oust the Appeal Court from hearing the appeal against the Chief Justice’s ruling would defeat the purpose of Article 163 of the Constitution of Guyana.
As for the Chancellor, while she noted that she considered all the precedence relied on by the Attorney General, she said they failed to invalidate the Court of Appeal’s jurisdiction to hear the appeal.

Voters’ list
Meanwhile, the party stated that it intends to request a meeting with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to discuss, among other things, the creation of a new voters’ list ahead of the Local Government Elections (LGE) billed for this year.
In a statement, the PNCR expressed concerns that the over $750 million allocated to GECOM for LGE preparations does not cater to a new voters’ list.
“It is the desire of the PNCR to participate in both Local Government Elections and General and Regional Elections with an accurate voters’ list that is acceptable to all stakeholders. GECOM must therefore commit to producing a voters’ list that is clean in time for the next Local Government Elections,” the Aubrey Norton-led political grouping said.
To this end, the PNCR said it will discuss the issue with its coalition partners and subsequently seek a meeting with GECOM.
“At that meeting, the party will clearly articulate its position on the above demands and will work with all stakeholders to ensure that all the contentions are addressed and resolved, paving the way for credible elections,” the party said.
The $750 million for LGE preparations is part of an overall $4.1 billion allocation to GECOM in Budget 2022 and was examined and approved by the National Assembly during its consideration of the estimates on Monday.
In this matter, Norton said the party is planning to engage GECOM on the need for a clean voters’ list before moving ahead with the polls. However, he was reticent in outlining the party’s touted approach.
“There are a number of methods that can be used. There are provisions that exists to remove people that have migrated. There are measures that can be taken to remove the dead and importantly, House-to-House Registration can play a critical role. We prefer when we engage the Elections Commission to address these issues,” the PNC Leader informed.