Skip to main content

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Appeal Court hearing on motion to stop election declaration adjourned to 11am tomorrow

The hearing of a Notice of Motion filed in the Court of Appeal by the APNU/AFC supporter, Eslyn David, began on Friday morning before Justices Dawn Gregory Barnes, Rishi Persaud and Brassington Reynolds at Guyana’s Court of Appeal.

Today’s hearing was for case management. The case will continue at 11:00h tomorrow for a hearing.

At tomorrow’s hearing each lawyer will be given 30 minutes for their oral submissions. However, they all have by the end to today to file their affidavits in response.

The legal action was filed by Attorney Mayo Robertson on behalf of David of Pike Street, North Sophia, Georgetown.

It named Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, GECOM Chair (retired) Justice Claudette Singh, the Guyana Elections Commission, and Attorney General of Guyana Basil Williams as respondents.

David, an APNU/AFC supporter is asking for a series of orders to stop GECOM from moving ahead with the declaration of the results from the March 2 elections.

Lowenfield was expected to submit his final elections report to GECOM on Thursday, but failed to do so after he was served with a mere legal notice of the intent.

This, coupled with the fact that the seven-member Commission did not have the quorum to convene its meeting due to the absence of two of the three APNU/AFC nominated commissioners, forced the GECOM Chair to postpone the much- anticipated meeting that would have paved the way for a final declaration and eventual swearing in of PPP/C’s Dr Irfaan Ali as the new President of Guyana.

On Thursday, PPP/C’s General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo contended that the Notice of Motion filed in the Court of Appeal by the APNU/AFC supporter is a “disguised” elections petition.

FM
@kp posted:

We are dealing with Animal Farm. The rest of the world are laughing at Guyana, how much more Backward can we get.

 An election is judge by the Electorates and NOT the Courts.

What are you trying to say. Put those A-levels to work. Don’t tek worries keep the new cabinet that you all picked the other day handy. The court could rule in your favour.

FM
@Rochelle posted:

Excellent news of the court having jurisdiction to hear this matter. So much for Anil’s claim of this case being thrown out today.
 
IrFRAUD Ali will have to return them rental clothes and shine shoes for a while longer.

 

THE PRESIDENT

Voting

177.(1)Any list of candidates for an election held pursuant to the provisions of article 60(2) shall designate not more than one of those candidates as a Presidential candidate. An elector voting at such an election in favour of a list shall be deemed to be also voting in favour of the Presidential candidate named in the list.

(2)A Presidential candidate shall be deemed to have been elected as President and shall be so declared by the Chairman of the Elections Commission—(a)if he is the only Presidential candidate at the election;or(b)where there are two or more Presidential candidates,if more votes are cast in favour of the list in which he is designated as Presidential candidate than in favour of any other list.

(3)Where no person is elected as President under paragraph (2)and where the votes cast in favour of each list are equal in number, or where the votes cast in favour of each of two or more lists are equal in number but greater than the number of votes cast in favour of any other list, the Chairman of the Elections Commission, acting in the presence of the Chancellor and of the public, shall by lot choose one of the lists in respect of which the votes are equal in either of the circumstances aforesaid and shall declare the Presidential candidate designated in that list to be duly elected as President.

 (4)The Court of Appeal shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any  question as to the validity of an election of a President in so far as that question depends upon the qualification of any person for election or the interpretation of this Constitution; and any decision of that Court under this paragraph shall be final.

https://www.oas.org/juridico/s...guy_constitution.pdf

Django
Last edited by Django

The courts cannot tell Lowenfield to change the report.   That would be treason. The report stands.  The courts cannot tell the Chairman what report should be declared.    They only can declare the election null and void. Knowing that the PNC is the one who rigged the election and failed to produce a proper Electoral list, then the courts will have to adjourn the case.

R
@Ramakant-P posted:

The courts cannot tell Lowenfield to change the report.   That would be treason. The report stands.  The courts cannot tell the Chairman what report should be declared.    They only can declare the election null and void.

Knowing that the PNC is the one who rigged the election and failed to produce a proper Electoral list, then the courts will have to adjourn the case.

PPP wanted a new voters list in 2015

https://www.stabroeknews.com/2...r-electoral-reforms/

Then proceed to block ,the cleaning up of the voters list.

https://guyana.crowdstack.io/topic/p...e-register-thousands

Everything that's  wrong in Guyana is the PNC fault.

Django

UPDATE ON LEGAL PROCEEDINGS:” - Mohabir Anil Nandlall

The Notice of Motion filed in the Court of Appeal: Eslyn David v Chief Elections Officer, Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, The Guyana Elections Commission and The Attorney General of Guyana, was heard today at the Guyana Court of Appeal.

The Applicant , Eslyn David was represented by Mayo Robertson, John Jeremy and George Scotland, both from Trinidad and Tobago. The Chief Elections Officer was unrepresented by Counsel. The Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) was represented by Ms. Kim Kyte. The Attorney General, Basil Williams, appeared in person with Maxwell Edwards.

Mohamed Irfaan Ali, Presidential Candidate of the List for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and Bharrat Jagdeo, the General Secretary of the PPP/C, were joined as added Respondents. They were represented by Mr. Douglas Mendes SC, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, Sanjeev Datadin and Devindra Kissoon.

ANUG and JLP were also joined as Respondents and represented by Mr. Ralph Ramkarran and Timothy Jonas. TCI and CG were also joined and represented by Kashir Khan.

All the lawyers were ordered to file and serve their respective Affidavits and written Submissions on/or before 6:00 am, tomorrow morning. The case is adjourned for oral hearing of submissions at 11:00 am, tomorrow. The Court directed that each lead Counsel will be permitted 30 minutes to present their oral submissions, in addition to their written submissions.

 
 
FM
@Rochelle posted:

Excellent news of the court having jurisdiction to hear this matter. So much for Anil’s claim of this case being thrown out today.
 
IrFRAUD Ali will have to return them rental clothes and shine shoes for a while longer.

 

Some people seems to know  the outcome, before a court ruling is made. They either have a warped sense of direction, or know how to read peoples minds. 

Tola
@Former Member posted:

Appeal Court hearing on motion to stop election declaration adjourned to 11am tomorrow

The hearing of a Notice of Motion filed in the Court of Appeal by the APNU/AFC supporter, Eslyn David, began on Friday morning before Justices Dawn Gregory Barnes, Rishi Persaud and Brassington Reynolds at Guyana’s Court of Appeal.

Today’s hearing was for case management. The case will continue at 11:00h tomorrow for a hearing.

At tomorrow’s hearing each lawyer will be given 30 minutes for their oral submissions. However, they all have by the end to today to file their affidavits in response.

The legal action was filed by Attorney Mayo Robertson on behalf of David of Pike Street, North Sophia, Georgetown.

It named Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, GECOM Chair (retired) Justice Claudette Singh, the Guyana Elections Commission, and Attorney General of Guyana Basil Williams as respondents.

David, an APNU/AFC supporter is asking for a series of orders to stop GECOM from moving ahead with the declaration of the results from the March 2 elections.

Lowenfield was expected to submit his final elections report to GECOM on Thursday, but failed to do so after he was served with a mere legal notice of the intent.

This, coupled with the fact that the seven-member Commission did not have the quorum to convene its meeting due to the absence of two of the three APNU/AFC nominated commissioners, forced the GECOM Chair to postpone the much- anticipated meeting that would have paved the way for a final declaration and eventual swearing in of PPP/C’s Dr Irfaan Ali as the new President of Guyana.

On Thursday, PPP/C’s General ISecretary Bharrat Jagdeo contended that the Notice of Motion filed in the Court of Appeal by the APNU/AFC supporter is a “disguised” elections petition.

If y’all see Eslyn David picture you guys will be scared. 😃

alena06

Appeal Court sets timeline for filing submissions in case seeking to block declaration of election results; matter fixed for full hearing tomorrow

Appeal Court Judge, Dawn Gregory-Barnes, this afternoon, fixed strict timelines for the filing of submissions in a court action seeking to restrain Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield from handing over his final report to Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), retired Judge Claudette Singh, who would in turn, declare the winner of the March 02, 2020 General and Regional elections.

The Appeal Court Judge convened a hearing this afternoon following the filing of a Notice of Motion by government-aligned lawyer, Mayo Robertson on behalf of government affiliate Eslyn David, who is seeking a declaration, and several Orders, as it relates to the conduct of the electoral process by the GECOM.

Following a brief hearing, the court granted applications for other persons to be added as Respondents in the case. David has listed Justice Singh, Lowenfield and Attorney General Basil Williams, as the Respondents.

Justice Singh is represented by former Solicitor General Kim Kyte-Thomas; Lowenfield was unrepresented by counsel, but appeared in person; Williams appeared in person, in association with lawyer, Maxwell Edwards.

Attorneys-at-Law Devindra Kissoon, Anil Nandlall and Sanjeev Datadin led by Trinidadian Senior Counsel, Douglas Mendes appeared for Leader of the Opposition People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), Bharrat Jagdeo and the party’s Presidential Candidate Irfaan Ali, who were joined as added Respondents.

Representatives from several smaller political parties, The Citizen Initiative (TCI), Change Guyana (CG), Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) and A New and United Guyana (ANUG) were also added as Respondents in the case. Their lawyers include former Speaker of the National Assembly, Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran, Presidential Candidate of ANUG and Timothy Jonas, the party’s Chairman.

Today’s hearing was a case management conference so as to fix timelines for filing of submissions and affidavits. Parties have up to 06:00hrs tomorrow, June 20, 2020 to file submissions via email. The court will begin hearing arguments in the substantive matter tomorrow, also at 11:00hrs.

NOT CREDIBLE

David’s prime contention is that GECOM has failed to determine a final credible count of the votes. It is against this backdrop, David requested the court to grant a declaration that GECOM failed to act in accordance with the terms of the Recount Order No. 60 of 2020, and the amended order dated May 29, 2020 that were published in the Official gazette.

Describing herself as a keen follower of Guyana’s political affairs, who voted at the March 02, 2020 polls and is anxiously awaiting the results of those elections, David in an Affidavit in Support of the motion, contended that GECOM allowed votes which lacked credibility to be tabulated and included in the final count.

Relying on Section 96 (1) of the Representation of the People Act, she submitted that this provision requires the Chief Elections Officer to determine the “total number of valid votes”.

AMBIGUOUS

In asking the Court of Appeal for an Order that there be an interpretation of the words “more votes are cast” contained in Article 177 (2) (b) of the Constitution of Guyana, David argues that this must mean “valid votes” cast.

Article 177 of the Constitution speaks specifically to the Election of the President. Article 177 (2) (b) reads : where there are two or more Presidential candidates, if more votes are cast in favour of the list in which a person is designated as Presidential candidate than in favour of any other list, that Presidential candidate shall be deemed to be elected as President and shall be so declared by chairman of the Elections Commission acting only on accordance with the advice of the Chief Elections; after such advice has been tendered to the Elections Commission at a duly summoned meeting.

GHOST VOTING

The incumbent APNU+AFC government has insisted that some of the votes lack credibility as it reported instances of dead people and those who have migrated voting, as well as missing polling documents from ballot boxes from PPP/C strongholds along the East Coast of Demerara. The government had called on GECOM to probe these anomalies which it says are glaring evidence of corruption.

APNU+AFC argued that should GECOM go ahead and make a declaration in light of the foregoing, it would undermine the credibility of the electoral body and erode public confidence in the electoral process.

NO JURISDICTION

But GECOM’s Chairperson noted that while these allegations are of a serious nature, the Constitutional body is not a court of law, and as such, has no authority to determine the veracity of these allegations.

Justice Singh, however, noted that Article 163 (1) (b) of the Constitution confers on the High Court exclusive jurisdiction to determine the validity of an election; the aggrieved party would have to file an election petition within 28 days after the final result is declared.

ONLY VALID VOTES CERTIFIED

PPP/C has insisted that the issues being raised by the government are for an election petition. One of the party’s Candidate, Attorney-at-Law Charles Ramson says that only valid votes were tabulated and certified during the Recount exercise.

To substantiate his position, Ramson made reference to the Statements of Recount and Certificate of District Tabulation for each of the 10 Electoral Districts. In fact, he pointed out, “Each Statement of Recount said valid votes. Each Certificate of District Tabulation said the total number of valid votes cast and valid votes cast for each party’s List of Candidates.”

OVERDUE

Earlier this week, Justice Singh directed Lowenfield to prepare his report on the tabulated votes garnered from the National Recount pursuant to Article 177 (2) (b) of the Constitution and Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act. Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act, outlines the methodology for the allocation of seats in the 65-member National Assembly.

Lowenfield’s report was supposed to be handed over to the Commission yesterday at 13:00hrs. However, after being served by court marshals with the copies of the Notice of Motion, he refused to comply with the directive of Justice Singh. A vital meeting of the Commission scheduled for today at 13:00hrs, was also cancelled in light of the court proceedings.

In a report submitted to the Commission on Saturday, June 13, 2020 Lowenfield concluded that the elections were not “free and credible.”

Speaking about the results for Region One, Lowenfield said, “Finally, the summation of the anomalies and instances of voter impersonation identified in District One clearly does not appear to satisfy the criteria of impartiality, fairness and compliance with the provisions of the constitution and the [Representation of the People Act]. Consequently, on the basis of the votes counted and the information furnished from the recount, it cannot be ascertained that the results from District One, Barima/Waini meet the standard of fair and credible elections.”

This conclusion was replicated throughout the report regarding the other nine administrative regions.

However, the report of the three-member CARICOM team which observed and scrutinized the recount contradicted Lowenfield’s report. As a matter of fact, the CARICOM observer team concluded that the recount of the votes cast in the elections reflect the will of the people and provide a basis for the declaration of results.

The CARICOM team comprised Sylvester King, Deputy Supervisor of Elections of St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Cynthia Barrow-Giles, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies (UWI); and John Jarvis, Commissioner of the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission.

FISHING EXPEDITION

The team, in addressing APNU+AFC allegations of persons voting in the names of those who were dead and persons who were out of the jurisdiction voting, said: “The Team viewed much of the exercise as a fishing expedition designed to gather data for a possible election petition and which resulted in considerable time being wasted during the recount. Furthermore, the net was cast extremely wide in the hope of at least making a small catch and at times the anticipated harvest ended in slim pickings.”

The CARICOM team underscored that it did not view the objections raised by APNU+AFC as materially relevant to the recount of the ballot, though these objections based on the information provided by GECOM to the party agents, signalled the possibility of a padded voters list which GECOM as a body must deal with expeditiously.

The trio said they have no evidence as to who were the ultimate beneficiaries of the alleged “ghost voting” and voter impersonation.

FM
@Former Member posted:

Appeal Court sets timeline for filing submissions in case seeking to block declaration of election results; matter fixed for full hearing tomorrow


AMBIGUOUS

In asking the Court of Appeal for an Order that there be an interpretation of the words “more votes are cast” contained in Article 177 (2) (b) of the Constitution of Guyana, David argues that this must mean “valid votes” cast.

Article 177 of the Constitution speaks specifically to the Election of the President. Article 177 (2) (b) reads : where there are two or more Presidential candidates, if more votes are cast in favour of the list in which a person is designated as Presidential candidate than in favour of any other list, that Presidential candidate shall be deemed to be elected as President and shall be so declared by chairman of the Elections Commission acting only on accordance with the advice of the Chief Elections; after such advice has been tendered to the Elections Commission at a duly summoned meeting.

Focus of this case rests with ---

-- Constitution states - more votes are cast

-- Eslyn David's argument - valid votes  -- her personal interpretation.

FM
@Former Member posted:

Focus of this case rests with ---

-- Constitution states - more votes are cast

-- Eslyn David's argument - valid votes  -- her personal interpretation.

Why do you think they are using the time to destroy GRA and other records?  Why are they erasing hard drives?  If they thought they had a viable chance they would not.  

Interesting their supporters not question the destruction of government records. But the audit will be pursued. The GoG will get cooperation from all foreign governments to follow the money. This is already in the works.

FM
@Former Member posted:

Why do you think they are using the time to destroy GRA and other records?  Why are they erasing hard drives?  If they thought they had a viable chance they would not.  

Interesting their supporters not question the destruction of government records. But the audit will be pursued. The GoG will get cooperation from all foreign governments to follow the money. This is already in the works.

You are an instigator and a racist, who contributes to making the situation worse.  Where is your evidence that this is happening ? 

Tola
@Tola posted:

Some people seems to know  the outcome, before a court ruling is made. They either have a warped sense of direction, or know how to read peoples minds. 

Lawyers speculated the outcome  ... that the appeal court does NOT have jurisdiction in the matter. But then again is Guyana we dealing with and a bunch of crooks. Ralph Ramkarran said he has never seen something like this since practicing law and is expecting the judge to throw the matter out. Turn your sense  of direction, if you have any,  to the interview I posted here last night 

FM
@Former Member posted:

Lawyers speculated the outcome  ... that the appeal court does NOT have jurisdiction in the matter. But then again is Guyana we dealing with and a bunch of crooks. Ralph Ramkarran said he has never seen something like this since practicing law and is expecting the judge to throw the matter out. Turn your sense  of direction, if you have any,  to the interview I posted here last night 

Why is it speculation,  when GECOM is limited  from dealing with it  and suggested that the courts handle the matter. Similar to what the PPP did previously, is it not an option for APNU to do the same ? This is not supporting any one party, but what the constitution allow anyone to do. 

Tola
@Tola posted:

If Eslyn David is an African person, this is a racist remark. 

Come on, Tola. There are multitudes of handsome and pretty Africans. In every race there's beautiful and ugly. But in my opinion Eslyn David's appearance is immaterial to her court case. I don't view Alena's comment as racist but I do think it's inappropriate.

FM
@Former Member posted:

Come on, Tola. There are multitudes of handsome and pretty Africans. In every race there's beautiful and ugly. But in my opinion Eslyn David's appearance is immaterial to her court case. I don't view Alena's comment as racist but I do think it's inappropriate.

Gilly, many on this site loses their respect for others and Alena's comments is one of them. Coming from another woman, it was worse. 

Tola

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×