Court asked to nullify declaration of Irfaan Ali as president

Sep 18, 2020 News

– in second elections petition filed to challenge 2020 polls

Another election petition has been filed to challenge the outcome of March 2nd, 2020 polls.
The petition which comes weeks after the filing of the first challenge, pointed to anomalies and voters’ impersonation, as part of the issues highlighted in the regional and general elections and which resulted in a fraudulent conclusion of the national polls.
According to document, the petitioners in this case are Monica Thomas and Bernnan Joette Natasha Nurse are accusing the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) of failing to execute several of its constitutional and statutory duties.
Among other things, the two persons accuse GECOM of failing to discharge its constitutional and statutory duty by failing to complete the house-to-house registration and verifying the Official List of Electors (OLE) is comprised only those entries that satisfy the criteria and/or requirements for inclusion in the List of Electors for the respective divisional lists at the time of their certification.
The petitioners are contending, too, that there were instances where Oath of Identity, which is required by statute for electors voting without identification cards or other acceptable forms of identification, were missing.
For the reasons and upon the grounds set out, Thomas and Nurse believe that the elections were unlawfully conducted and the elections (if lawfully conducted) were affected or might have been affected by unlawful acts or omissions.
In light of the alleged “glaring inconsistencies, irregularities, and the absence of statutory documents the petitioners are asking for an order to declare the elections null and void as it violates the Constitution, the Representative of the People Act and Order 60.
As such, they are asking the Court to nullify the declaration of President Dr. Irfaan Ali as the winner of the elections.
The request follows a challenge by the A Partnership For National Unity +Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) elections petition. The applicants asked the court to determine several questions, including whether Section 22 of the Elections Law Amendment Act (ELAA) is unconstitutional in that it violates the separation of powers and impermissibly usurps the legislative powers of Parliament.
In that petition, the party is contending inter alia that the (recount) regime which was created under Order 60 of 2020 pursuant to Section 22 of the ELAA and Article 162 of the Constitution is ultra vires and inconsistent with Article 161 A of the Constitution.
Further, the petition noted Recital 8 of Order No. 60 provides that GECOM, in exercise of the authority vested in it under Article 162 of the Constitution and pursuant to Section 22 of the ELAA 2000, seeks to remove difficulties connected with the process of the Representation of the People Act, Chapter 1:03, in implementing its decisions related to the recount of all ballots cast at the said elections.
Order 60 of 2020, according to the applicants, “negates the process of the reconciliation of the ballots issued with the ballots cast, destroyed, spoiled, stamped, and as deemed necessary, their counterfoils/stubs; authenticity of the ballots and the number of voters listed and crossed out as having voted; the number of votes cast without ID cards; the number of proxies”.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News