Harmon makes risky call to supporters

APNU General-Secretary Joseph Harmon has put his party supporters in a compromising situation with a call for them to gather in their numbers to support the filing of two elections petitions at the High Court on Monday.

“The petition will be filed on Monday 31st August, 10 am, Supreme Court Building. We are asked to mobilise in numbers to lend support to our party. We want a big manifestation against this persecution that is going on,” Harmon stated in a Facebook post.

As of August 29, 2020, forty new COVID-19 cases were recorded, bringing the total number of known cases to 1,184. Three new COVID deaths were announced on Friday, bringing the total to 35.

In light of this situation, a few Coalition parliamentarians are expected to participate in the opening of the 12th Parliament virtually.

The A Partnership for National Unity +Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) will be filing two election petitions to challenge the declaration of the March 2, 2020 general and regional elections.

In catering for failure, Alliance For Change (AFC) Chairman, Raphael Trotman on Friday, during a virtual press conference, said filing multiple petitions is necessary, given the success rate of such applications.

“It’s not the first time that multiple petitions are being filed following an election, and with good reason. Should one fail, there’s another to stand up, because the law, with respect to petitions, is very strict, and many petitions, in fact, have failed. I believe there has only been one successful petition,” he explained.

The former minister said that it is also always important to have multiple petitions, so if there is a defect in one, that defect will not be found in the other.

The application was made on Thursday last by Attorney-at-law Roysdale Forde, on behalf of the 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.

A national recount of the elections results, which was agreed to by former President David Granger and then Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, showed that the PPP/C secured 233,336 votes, while the APNU+AFC obtained 217,920, a difference of some 15,416 votes.

Despite the certified results of the national recount, the Coalition still insists on alleged voter irregularities, claiming dead and migrated persons had voted at the March polls.

But after five months of a series of litigation and delaying tactics, the PPP/C was finally declared winners of the March 2, 2020 elections by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), and Dr. Irfaan Ali was sworn in as Guyana’s ninth Executive President on August 2, 2020.