Jagdeo files petition to halt votes recount case until Full Court determines appeal, case likely to reach the CCJ
Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo has swiftly filed an action in the Full Court in which he is asking for a stay of the proceedings before Justice Franklin Holder in the national vote recount case while an appeal is being heard and determined. Yesterday, the judge ruled that he has jurisdiction to review the actions of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) as it relates to a decision for a national votes recount supervised by CARICOM.
Guyana Standard understands that the application for the stay along with an appeal against the judge’s ruling were filed with the Full Court yesterday. Given the urgent nature of the matters, the Full Court will convene a hearing on Monday at 11:00hrs at the High Court in Demerara. Should that stay be granted, it will temporarily stop the judicial review proceedings before Justice Holder until the appeal is heard and determined by the Full Court.
One of Jagdeo’s lawyers, Anil Nandlall has signaled that the matter is likely to go all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ); he is arguing that Justice Holder erred in law in arriving at that decision.
The case for judicial review was filed by APNU+AFC Candidate, Ulita Moore, who is asking the court for a declaration that the decision by GECOM to have a high-level team from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) supervise the recount is in contravention of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act.
Nandlall is still insisting that Justice Holder has no jurisdiction to hear Moore’s application, as it questions decisions made by GECOM under Section 140 of the Representation of the People Act. According to him, the decisions made under the aforesaid provisions are “precluded from inquiry by any court.”
Nandlall had previously explained, “So you have a jurisdictional bar created by the Representation of the People’s Act against a court inquiring into decisions made by GECOM. And Ulita Moore’s entire case rests upon asking the court to overrule decisions made by GECOM and to inquire into how those decisions were made and those things cannot be inquired into according to the Representation of the People’s Act.
Apart from the declaration that the Commission’s decision is unlawful, Moore is further seeking an order prohibiting GECOM from conducting what she says is an unlawful recount of the votes, and to have the already declared results, for the 10 electoral districts be made final.
In the meantime, Moore has secured an interim injunction restraining GECOM from authorizing anyone to enter an agreement between CARICOM, incumbent President David Granger and Jagdeo for a recount of all the ballots cast in the March 2 General and Regional Elections.
The injunction came at a time when GECOM said it was examining the legal ramifications of an agreement between the incumbent President and Jagdeo for CARICOM to oversee the recount of all ballots for the 10 electoral districts.
GECOM reported that it was already in receipt of a copy of the Aide Memoire that was signed by Granger and Jagdeo and witnessed by CARICOM’s Secretary General, Irwin Larocque to facilitate the recount.
GECOM was also in the process of having an order gazetted to that effect. The high-level CARICOM team sent here to supervise the recount has since packed up and left.
