Court sets date to hear challenge over GECOM verIfication process

Jan 17, 2025 News

Kaieteur News- Chief Justice (CJ) acting Roxane George-Wiltshire is set to hear oral arguments in the case filed by People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) member Carol Smith-Joseph challenging the Guyana Elections Commission to engage in a better verification process on March 17, 2025.

Smith-Joseph had filed a court case, saying that there was need for verification of the addresses of registrants because checks have shown that addresses have on them no buildings, or dilapidated or abandoned houses in which no one lives or have lived for years; the addresses exist but no one at the address knows the Applicant/Registrant; the address is generic, for example it may be just the name of the village or town area. She fears that the integrity of General and Regional Elections and Local Government Elections and their results will be questionable, inaccurate and not credible.

Chief Elections Scrutineer, Carol Joseph

PNCR member Carol Smith-Joseph

The matter came up at the High Court before Chief Justice George-Wiltshire for a case management hearing on Wednesday. The CJ gave directions for the filing of submissions and responses of the matter as well as set March 17, 2025 as the date that the hearings will commence. The court dealt with application to amend the original case by Ms. Smith-Joseph.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall S.C and Lawyer for GECOM, Kurt Da silva made no objection to the amendments. As a result, the case was amended to include broader terms in relation to the application filed by Attorneys Dexter Todd and Dexter Smartt.

Outside the courtroom, following the case management hearing, AG Nandlall explained that notwithstanding his decision not to object to the amendments, he believes the matter is pointless. Nandlall told reporters that the question in a case had been already settled in court years ago.

According to the Attorney General, Ms. Smith-Joseph’s effort was not the first attempt to remove the names of registrants on the basis of no residency; the first having been in 2019 when GECOM, under the chairmanship of Retired Justice James Patterson. As a result, a High Court case had been filed by Christopher Ram. Nandlall said that in the Chief Justice’s “very reasoned, researched and elaborate judgment” explained the clear constitutional requirements for registration and voting.

Nandlall maintained that all that is required is an address rather than residency. “You cannot have two addresses on the list so wherever you’re casting that ballot, you are likely to be living at that address,” he said.

He said amendments to the National Registration Act in 2022 made it consistent with Guyana’s Constitution by removing requirements for a residency address and replaced it with an address. Prior to those changes, he said the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) had removed the names of registrants from the National Register of Registrants or did not complete the registration process if the verification shows that they were not at the stated of addresses. “By doing so, they were illegally removing persons from the register on the basis that the persons were not resident at that address,” he said.

“So, if you don’t have to have a fixed place of abode or a fixed address in Guyana, and in fact you can have a fixed addressed in Queens, New York or you can have a fixed address in London and you are still qualified to vote in Guyana by virtue of the Constitution, on what basis is there a requirement that you must live at a particular address in order to vote? Just work it out logically in your mind,” he argued.

“Anytime, any person is refused registration or would be refused the right to vote because of some deficiency in their address that would be an abrogation and a violation of not only the constitution but that person’s constitutional right to vote, and that is what that case is about,” the Attorney General said.

However, attorney Todd in his representation of Smith-Joseph emphasised that the verification process must be adequately carried. According to Todd, there are instances where the names and addresses of the registrants do not correlate. “The addresses must be verifiable. if you do not verify the information going into the register, you are going to have a problem. Because it is from the register that the extractions are made,” the lawyer said.

(Court sets date to hear challenge over GECOM verIfication process)

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Carol Smith Joseph, Guyana Elections Commission, Guyana’s Constitution, Kurt Da silva, Peoples National Congress Reform

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