Appeal Court set February 8 for hearing second election petition matter

Dec 08, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – The Court of Appeal has set February 8, 2023 as the date when it will hear arguments in the second Election Petition case, challenging the High Court’s decision to uphold the recount order, which was used to facilitate the National Recount of the votes cast at the last General and Regional Elections.

The case was filed on behalf of appellants Claudette Thorne and Heston Bostwick. During a case management hearing on Wednesday, Justice of Appeal, Rishi Persaud told the parties in the case, they have up until the 28th December, 2022, to make their written submissions while the respondents are required to answer to those submissions no later than January 18, 2023.

He said “Replies are due on January 22, 2023. The matter will come up again in the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, February 8, 2023 at 9:30hrs.”

APNU/AFC Member of Parliament (MP), Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde has decried the slow pace at which the party’s second election petition is moving at the Court of Appeal of Guyana and is preparing to file an application to have the matter expedited.

In June 2021, Forde appealed to the appellate court against Chief Justice Roxane George, SC’s April 26, 2021 decision, dismissing the coalition’s second election petition which challenged the results of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

The petition filed by Claudette Thorne and Heston Bostwick sought to have the results of the March 2020 General and Regional Elections invalidated on the ground of serious non-compliance with the Constitution of Guyana and electoral laws as it relates to GECOM’s conduct over those elections.

The petitioners had contended that Section 22 of the Elections Law (Amendment) Act and Order #60, also known as the Recount Order, were in violation of the Constitution.

However, in dismissing the petition, the Chief Justice held that the petitioners failed to present evidence to support that the conduct of the elections contravened the Constitution and electoral laws. She ruled that neither Section 22 nor the Recount Order was ultra vires the Constitution, adding that Article 162 of the Constitution empowered GECOM to take whatever actions were necessary to conclude the elections, including embarking on a recount of all ballots.