Dear Editor,
The country is being held to ransom through an abuse of the judicial process. The coalition recognises that it has lost the election, so now it seeks the court to give it a victory. It is tantamount to abusing the court to realise its goal.
The court can’t hand the coalition a victory when other courts have already ruled on the issue. The High Court must reject the arguments of the coalition and order GECOM to complete the process.
I appeal to the coalition to end litigation of the election matter. There has been countless election adjudication – case after case all repeating themselves over the same issues, and the highest court has already pronounced on all the issues.
The way judicial matters proceed, this election will not come to an end, as there may be more litigation after this one concludes. Stop wasting the court’s time and get on with the declaration.
After this matter before the High Court is disposed of, there should be no more appeals. Please! We are near completion of five months since the election was held. When will it all end? The court should not entertain flimsy, frivolous challenges, and allow GECOM to make a declaration.
One recalls that in May 2015, the PPP requested a recount, and it was promised but was never carried out. Also, in order to expedite a declaration, the PPP was not allowed to file a court petition before the official declaration, when requests for recounts were not granted. GECOM officials and court judges could not be found. Fake statements of poll were introduced into the system used for the declaration. Lowenfield was in charge of the preparation of the final count for declaration, which gave the coalition a victory by 4500 votes. There were reports then that, without fake statements, the PPP would have won. The coalition knew the real count was a victory of 2100 for the then incumbent.
The PPP was not allowed to file court cases until after a declaration, which it did. Judges could not be found. It would not be fair now for the court to tolerate ongoing, non-stop court cases to prevent a declaration.
The election must come to an end. The court cannot be the substitute for GECOM, which must move quickly to make a declaration as it did in 2015, so that aggrieved parties can proceed to court.
Yours truly,
Shawn Simmons
