APNU/AFC Campaign Manager Joseph Harmon has once again distorted a court ruling in an effort to justify electoral fraud.
In a statement following the ruling of Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George, Harmon said the judgement is “disappointing” and that “our lawyers will engage at the next level of the Court System to ensure that Our Constitution is respected and adhered to by all.”
According to Harmon, the “Court has side stepped the issue of fraudulent ballots in the tabulated votes at the Recount.”
But unlike what Harmon claims, CJ George explicitly cited the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruling validating the legal validity of the recount results.
The CCJ judgement said: “At the point in the electoral process where Article 177(2)(b) is reached, there is no further need to reference “valid” votes because, subject to Article 163 (which is triggered by election petition after the election), the relevant validation process has already been completed. Unless and until an election court decides otherwise, the votes already counted by the recount process as valid votes are incapable of being declared invalid by any person or authority.”
And in delivering her ruling, Justice George expressed: “as determined by the CCJ, unless overturned by a Court in an election petition, the only data that could be used for the declaration of the results of the elections would have to be the recount results or data.”
The CJ also noted that “the ten declarations cannot be resurrected at this point in time. In this regard, there can no longer be an impasse between the Chairperson and the CEO as to the effect of Article 177 (2)(b) and Section 96.”
In fact, she excruciatingly explicated all the constitutional, statutory and subsidiary laws that justified her judgement.
She concluded that the issues raised by the applicant were already settled through both the doctrines of res judicata and stare decisis and cannot be revisited.
The Chief Justice handed down this ruling in the case brought by APNU/AFC Supporter Misenga Jones who was seeking to block GECOM from declaring the winner of the elections using the recount results. Jones’ arguments were endorsed by Attorney General Basil Williams and Chief Executive Officer Keith Lowenfield.
But Justice George said the case presented by those three individuals is “hopelessly flawed”.
The APNU/AFC Coalition has lost the March 2 elections but is refusing to concede defeat.
In fact, members of the David Granger-led Coalition have already been slapped with visa restrictions by the US Government for undermining democracy in Guyana.
A national recount has proven that the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) won the elections with 233,336 votes.
GECOM Chairwoman Justice Claudette Singh has, on several occasions, directed the CEO to produce his final elections report using the recount data to pave the way for a declaration and ultimately the swearing-in of the duly-elected president.
But Lowenfield has, on each occasion, refused to do so; instead, he has submitted reports with concocted and fraudulent figures.
His latest report submitted includes the declarations from the ten Returning Officers – including the fraudulent declaration of the RO for Region Four Clairmont Mingo who was found to have been heavily inflating votes in favour of the APNU/AFC Coalition to give them a false victory.
