Senior Counsel Neil Boston who represented the interest of the Chief Elections Officer said the decision by Justice Holder has now cleared the way for the Chief Elections Officer to compile his final report on the declarations by the 10 Returning Officers and submit that report to GECOM.
In the High Court this afternoon, Justice Franklin Holder ruled that his Court does not have jurisdiction to hear an application by PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo to throw out the declaration of results made by Region 4 Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo.
Justice Holder ruled that the matter may be best dealt with in an election petition and therefore that matter is dismissed.
Senior Counsel Neil Boston who represented the interest of the Chief Elections Officer said the decision by Justice Holder has now cleared the way for the Chief Elections Officer to compile his final report on the declarations by the 10 Returning Officers and submit that report to GECOM.
Mr. Jagdeo’s Attorney, Anil Nandlall said the Full Court had earlier threw out the injunctions in the recount matter and therefore that process should continue. He said he found Justice Holder’s ruling to be a strange one.
“Suddenly, Justice Holder departed from all those authorities and ruled that he had no power, to do so and you must do so by election petition when Justice George heard all those arguments and say the Election Commission is different from the Returning Officer. The Election Commission is made of the Election Commissioners and Chairman, The Returning Officer is an ordinary public officer within the electoral process and therefore such an officer obviously is subject to judicial review”, Nandlall contended.
Both Courts recognised the independence of the Guyana Elections Commission to address the matters related to the elections.
