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FM
Former Member

APNU+AFC urge ‘quick hearing’ of Election Petition but insists its SOPs not relevant

The APNU+AFC coalition on Monday filed its election petition in the High Court, officially challenging the outcome of the March 02, 2020 elections from which the People’s Progressive Party emerged victorious.

Ultimately, the Coalition wants the Supreme Court, after hearing its petition, to cancel those polls which saw it losing the seat of Government and order fresh polls within 90 days.

But more importantly, the APNU+AFC wants a quick and expedited hearing of its petition which was filed on Monday.

Following the filing of the petition, former President and Leader of the APNU+AFC coalition David Granger spoke to members of the media outside of the High Court and said the coalition as confident it had enough evidence to prove that the elections were poorly managed and lacked credibility.

“We are set out here today to establish the invalidity of the declaration… we have documented anomalies in all ten regions…If these anomalies and irregularities are taken into consideration we will prove that the results will be different,” a confident Mr Granger said.

Joined by other senior members of his coalition, Mr Granger and the coalition by extension is claiming, among other things, that there were stuffed ballot boxes, missing documents, more votes than voters, ghost voting and voter impersonation.

“The evidence is overwhelming that these elections were rigged and the PPP, the beneficiary of the rigging is a fraudulent regime… the petition filed today will prove this in the court and they will have no option but to vitiate the elections,” Joseph Harmon, the incoming Leader of the Opposition said.

Harmon was also joined by Attorney at Law Roysdale Forde, SC, who is among the four attorneys representing the two applicants Claudette Thorne and Heston Bostwick, both residents of Georgetown.

The filing attorneys are Forde, along with Trinidad Senior Counsel John Jeremie, Raphael Trotman (who is also Chairman of the opposition party AFC), and Olayne Joseph.

It was Forde who insisted that the coalition will not be providing its Statements of Polls (SOPs), saying it was not relevant to what the APNU+AFC was asking the court to determine.

“As we have said repeatedly the elections was not decided on Statements of Poll; it was decided on the recount and if we are challenging the results of the elections it must be on the basis of the recount and those documents,” Forde added.

Asked specifically whether the coalition will produce its original SOPs, Forde repeated that “it is not relevant to the issues we are asking the courts to determine.

Forde said he is concerned that political interference will serve to thwart the early hearing of the matter and called for a quick and expedited hearing.

Asked specifically about the elections petition filed by the PPP in 2015 which has not been heard, Harmon said he believes the petition filed Monday can be heard ahead of the 2015 petition by the PPP.

He along with Forde said the coalition is also interested in a clean voters list ahead of any future elections to be held in Guyana.

If they succeed in their case, the petitioners are seeking orders from the court to declare that elections were so badly held that the results from it cannot be deemed to be the will of the people. At the same time, they want the Court to throw out the elections and have David Granger declared as President under those very elections they claim were conducted against the electoral laws and constitution of the country.

The petitioners want the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to use the vote count from the Ten Returning Officers to declare the results of the elections. That would include the District Four vote Count which has been condemned as fraudulent.

The petitioners contend that the Chief Elections Officer was not required to use the data from the national vote recount to produce his elections report from which the results were declared.

Alternatively, the petitioners want the Court to order fresh elections in 90 days after its ruling on the case.

The respondents named are Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, representative of APNU+AFC David Granger, representative of the Federal United Party Horatio Edmonson, representative of the PPP Bharrat Jagdeo, representative of the Liberty and Justice Party John Flores, representative of the New Movement Asha Kissoon, Representative of the United Republican Party Vishnu Bandhu, representative of Change Guyana Abedin Ali, representative of the Peoples Republican Party Patrick Bourne, representative of A New and United Guyana Jonathan Bourne, representative of The Citizenship Initiative Shazaam Aly and representative of Organisation for Victory of the People Gerald Perreira.

https://newsroom.gy/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Granger-election-petition-750x430.jpgLeaders of the Coalition from R-L: David Granger, Joseph Harmon and Khemraj Ramjattan with Attorney, SC Roysdale Forde after filing the elections petition [Photo: August 31, 2020]

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@Former Member posted:

APNU+AFC urge ‘quick hearing’ of Election Petition but insists its SOPs not relevant

The APNU+AFC coalition on Monday filed its election petition in the High Court, officially challenging the outcome of the March 02, 2020 elections from which the People’s Progressive Party emerged victorious.

Ultimately, the Coalition wants the Supreme Court, after hearing its petition, to cancel those polls which saw it losing the seat of Government and order fresh polls within 90 days.

But more importantly, the APNU+AFC wants a quick and expedited hearing of its petition which was filed on Monday.

Now that the petition is filed, perhaps PNCR/APNU/AFC can wait until the PPPC petition filed in 2015 is heard first.

FM

Granger elbow bumped Mingo's wife today and told her that Mingo did nothing wrong.

I don't have a problem with elections in 90 days. If the PPP managed to commit massive fraud while Harmon's hawk eyes were watching them imagine how much more massive the PPP can rig the elections in 90 days. Maybe, just maybe they can award themselves a more than 2/3 majority like one those Lowenfield GECOM report when he disenfranchised some 280k votes to give the Coalition a more than 2/3 majority.

FM

Jagdeo outsmarted the PNC at every step. At one point he asked Judge Holder to require that GECOM present their SOPs but Holder in colluding with the PNC denied it. The PNC knowing fully well how Mingo had mutilated those SOPs felt they can avoid that shame by going to the recount and badam, Jagdeo outsmarted them there too. The PNC is no match for Guyana's Putin.

FM
@Former Member posted:

Granger elbow bumped Mingo's wife today and told her that Mingo did nothing wrong.

I don't have a problem with elections in 90 days. If the PPP managed to commit massive fraud while Harmon's hawk eyes were watching them imagine how much more massive the PPP can rig the elections in 90 days. Maybe, just maybe they can award themselves a more than 2/3 majority like one those Lowenfield GECOM report when he disenfranchised some 280k votes to give the Coalition a more than 2/3 majority.

Heck, the PPP should go for it and award themselves a cool 90% of the Assembly. If they couldn't be stopped while the PNC controlled the apparatus, how can they be stopped now.

FM
@Former Member posted:

What is APNU/AFC "quick hearing" expectation means in time, 24 hours, 24 days, or 24 months? 

For starters they filed their petition a day after the deadline so certainly they are not shooting for any real goal.

FM
@Former Member posted:

For starters they filed their petition a day after the deadline so certainly they are not shooting for any real goal.

What are the legalities based on late filing? 

 

FM
@Baseman posted:

They avoiding the baseline truth?  What if judge Rishi dismiss their case?  Do they accept?

I tell you, their stupidity will fall flat. 

Eh eh , you are on a first name basis with Justice Persaud.  Is he a PPP judge?

T
@Former Member posted:

Heck, the PPP should go for it and award themselves a cool 90% of the Assembly. If they couldn't be stopped while the PNC controlled the apparatus, how can they be stopped now.

Belladrum? Buxton?

T
@Former Member posted:

What are the legalities based on late filing? 

 

Sometime in 2018 when the Coalition tried to get the CJ to disqualify Charrandas' NCM vote they argued that he was not a legal MP since he held dual citizenship. She told them that it was too late to make a big deal over that since they only had 28 days after the declaration in 2015 to do so. They tried to get the CCJ to side with them and the CCJ told them to gwan suh.

FM
@Former Member posted:

Now that the petition is filed, perhaps PNCR/APNU/AFC can wait until the PPPC petition filed in 2015 is heard first.

@Totaram posted:

The 2015 petition is now otiose.  

Guyana Courts made no decision on the 2015 petition nor issued any decision that it is dated or otiose.

FM

Many are of the misconception that the first time the Coalition miscalculated was when they jeeringly told the PPP to bring it on in December 2018. In fact there were many miscalculations going back to 2015 with the most prevalent one being that the PPP will remain in the Opposition for a very long time. Some even suggested it can be decades. Some even shamelessly sought to justify their argument by suggesting that the PPP cannot win because the PPP is a Coolie party and the Indo-Guyanese population was progressively decreasing. They totally overlooked the fact that while most Indians support the PPP the PPP has always been a big tent party. And they proved it again in 2020.

FM

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