APNU/AFC’s attempt to thwart will of people will not succeed – PPP

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) on Monday said it will not sit idly by and allow the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) and its rigging cabal to alter the will of the Guyanese people who voted at the March 2 General and Regional Elections.

With the recommitment to upholding one of the main principles of democracy – the right to free and fair elections, the PPP welcomed the acting Chief Justice’s ruling in the Misenga Jones v GECOM et al case which sought to block the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) from utilising the results of the National Recount to declare the elections.
Justice Roxane George dismissed the case, and Jones, with the backing of the APNU/AFC, indicated that they will be appealing the judgement.
In a statement, the PPP said: “Despite the Court’s unequivocal ruling, APNU/AFC has signaled their intent to continue to abuse the Court’s process by filing appeal. However, we are confident that no attempt by APNU/AFC to thwart the will of the electorate will succeed.”

The party said that the CJ’s ruling reiterating that only the recount results could be used as the basis for determining the winner of the elections, reinforces the contention that the party was victorious at the polls.
It reminded that GECOM Chair, Retired Justice Claudette Singh had directed CEO Keith Lowenfield to prepare a Section 96 report based on the recount results generated from the National Recount of votes, in order to declare a PPP/C victory. However, instead of following those instructions, the CEO in a fourth blatant attempt to subvert the will of the electorate, reverted to the fraudulent results previously declared by embattled Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo. He presented the Commission with a report that not only falsely showed an APNU/AFC victory, but inflated the number of votes cast at the Regional and General Elections by more than 14,000.

However, before he could have presented his report on July 14, Jones filed her case and stalled the process. On Monday, the Chief Justice (ag) dismissed Jones’ claim in its entirety and in so doing Justice George upheld the validity of the Recount Order and went further to affirmatively state that Mingo’s fraudulent declarations – and all of the ROs previous declarations for that matter, could not “be resurrected” in light of the recount.
She also found that it could not determine the constitutionality of Section 22 of the Election Law Amendment Act since that claim had already been dismissed by the Court of Appeal in Moore v GECOM, a case filed by an APNU party agent, and that therefore that issue was res judicata.

The PPP noted: “Viscerally disagreeing with Jones’ flawed interpretation of the CCJ’s judgment that the Recount Order was in tension with Article 177(2)(b) of the Constitution and Section 96 of ROPA, the Chief Justice ruled that the CCJ judgment lent ‘to the ineluctable conclusion that the recount votes are ex facie valid. Hence the view expressed that any irregularities would have to be addressed via an election petition.’

“Hence, the Chief Justice found that Jones’ and the Attorney General’s contention that valid votes could only mean the valid votes ascertained by Mingo’s fraudulent declaration, had ‘no merit’, since this issue had already been determined by the CCJ, and was also res judicata.”
The PPP also stated that it is important to note that the CJ asserted that the 10 declarations cannot be resurrected.