Nandlall regrets withdrawing first challenge to legality of house-to-house registration -in face of GECOM’s failed pledge to abide by CCJ directions

Jul 24, 2019 News

Expressing regret that he withdrew an application by private citizen, Bibi Zeenatoum, which sought to challenge the legality and constitutionality of house-to-house registration, Attorney-at-Law Anil Nandlall told reporters yesterday that he thought the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) would have complied with the clear directions of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ.

Attorney-at-Law Anil Nandlall

Nandlall reminded that GECOM said it would act in accordance with the court’s directives and scrap its plans for house-to-house registration. On this basis, Nandlall said he withdrew the application filed in April by Zeenatoum after GECOM had announced its plans to start the registration process in June.
Now that GECOM has gone ahead and continues with what he dubbed an illegality, Nandlall expressed, “I regret that decision terribly.”
Nonetheless, Nandlall said neither he nor his party, the PPP, will be participating in the illegal national house-to-house registration exercise. In a statement the party said that by doing so it will make the party complicit in aiding and abetting the violation of the rulings of the Caribbean Court of Justices, its consequential orders which uphold the Constitution.
Moreover, the PPP held that the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfeld, has embarked on house-to-house registration in defiance of the advice from its internal legal officer, Excellence Dazzell, at a time when there is no functioning Commission in place. The PPP made it clear that it will not accept any voters’ lists generated by this illegal exercise.
“We remain resolute in our position that the illegal House-to-House registration must be stopped and that the claims and objection period must commence. GECOM must immediately start preparations for general and regional elections in compliance with Article 106 (7) of the Constitution and the CCJ’s rulings and consequential orders.
The Peoples’ Progressive Party urges Guyanese not to support this illegal exercise and calls on all political parties, civil society and other stakeholders, including the international community, to condemn this unconstitutional act,” the PPP held firm.
In the meantime, Nandlall has filed fresh proceedings to block the house-to-house registration process. This time around, his client Attorney-at-Law and Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram, is asking the court to order GECOM from continuing with the registration process since it is in violation with Articles 106 and 107 of the Constitution and contemptuous to the rulings of the Caribbean Court of Justice.
Yesterday the Chief Justice refused the order pending provision of further evidence.
The court action filed by Zeenatoum against the Respondents, Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield and GECOM, had sought to halt the process of house-to-house registration even before it began. Like Ram, Zeenatoum in her Fixed Date Application had asked the court for a Conservatory Order restraining GECOM from embarking upon house-to-house registration which was then scheduled to commence in June 2019.
The applicant had argued that she was advised by her lawyer that there is no law which requires GECOM to conduct house-to-house registration for the purpose of creating a new National Register of Registrants for election.
Rather, she argued, GECOM and its CEO are mandated by law to engage in continuous registration with a baseline of the year 2001 and must follow the criteria established by the law and their own practice. According to her, “I am advised by my Attorneys-at-law and do verily believe that there are no laws that require proof of residency in Guyana as being an element of qualification for registration to the National Register of Registrants.”
She had said, “I am advised by my Attorneys-at-law and do verily believe that I am a registered elector in Guyana and during the Respondents’ proposed house-to-house registration exercise, I will be excluded and will cease to be a registered elector and will be denied the opportunity and right to vote in any upcoming elections in Guyana.”
Among other things, Zeenatoum had asked for a declaration that the proposed house-to-house registration exercise to be embarked upon by the respondents in or about June 2019, to create a new National Register of Registrants from which will be extracted a new Official List of Electors, shall be unconstitutional, ultra vires, illegal, null, void and of no effect.
She also wanted a declaration that the proposed exercise will exclude existing qualified registrants currently on the National Register of Registrants and on the Official List of Electors, shall be unconstitutional, ultra vires, illegal, null, void and of no effect.