APNU/AFC Counting Agent Misenga Jones has filed an appeal with the Guyana Court of Appeal seeking to overturn the decision of Chief Justice (ag), Roxane George in the case seeking to compel the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to utilise the ten declarations of the Returning Officers as the basis for announcing the winner of the March 2 elections.
Jones, through her attorneys, filed the appeal today and the case management hearing is expected to come up tomorrow at 15:00hrs.
On Monday, CJ Roxane George dismissed Jones’ application for judicial review on the grounds that the issues she raised were res judicata which meant that they have already been ventilated and pronounced upon by a competent court and cannot be re-litigated.
Jones had approached the court seeking several orders inclusive of:
- A declaration that the gazetted Order 60 of 2020 and the recount results extracted therefrom are invalid and unconstitutional;
- A declaration that the report required by the CEO under Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act must be based on the votes counted and information furnished by the ten (10) Returning Officers from their respective 10 Electoral Districts which were submitted to the CEO on March 13;
- A declaration that the CEO is not subjected to the directions of the Chair of the Commission on the contents of his Report
In total, Jones through her attorneys had sought 28 reliefs from the court but all, save and except for the issue of jurisdiction, were dismissed.
In the Appeal filings, Jones is contending that the Chief Justice erred in law when she dismissed the case. As a consequence, they are seeking to have the decision overturned and the reliefs granted.
Jones is being represented by Trinidadian Senior Counsel John Jeremie, APNU/AFC Candidate Roysdale Forde, Keith Scotland, Mayo Robertson and Rondelle Keller.
Stakeholders have already criticised the APNU/AFC over its move to approach the courts as it will only further delay the electoral process. Additionally, legal luminaries have contended that the case has little chance of success since these matters have already been dealt with in the legal system.
