In response to the coalition’s latest approach to the court to stop a declaration of the election results, PPP/C General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo has revealed that the party intends to join the proceedings, assuring Guyanese that they will not give up the fight for democracy.
During a virtual press conference shortly after the announcement of the filing of the application by the APNU/AFC supporter, Jagdeo blasted the coalition for abusing the court system yet again in their desperate attempts to cling to power.
“The APNU/AFC are basically asking the court to endorse fraudulent numbers for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to make a declaration of the March 2 General and Regional Elections…They expect the court to endorse electoral fraud,” Jagdeo asserted.
He added that: “effectively, they are asking the court to say that a statutory officer’s advice which is fabricated, false, which has no basis in reality, which is grounded in fraud, that that must be used to declare the results of the elections, and that the Commission has no power to alter that report or to do anything different.”
APNU/AFC supporter Misegna Jones moved to the High Court in an attempt to block GECOM from declaring the results of the March 2 Elections on the basis of the certified recount figures. The hearing of the case comes up before Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George tomorrow at 10:00hrs.
According to Jagdeo, the APNU/AFC will not succeed in its attempts to deny the will of the people, as the PPP/C will continue to fight for democracy.
“I know people are extremely disappointed and they are asking me when this will come to an end…the end has to be a lawful end, [one] that reflects the will of the people,” Jagdeo reasoned.
“I know people are disappointed…[and] I want to assure you we will keep up the fight to the end, we will participate in these court proceedings, but we hope that the [GECOM] Chair will swiftly bring an end to this matter too,” Jagdeo added.
Moreover, he noted that in the APNU/AFC’s submissions to the court, they are falsely claiming that the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) invalidated the recount order and therefore, GECOM should return to the fraudulent declarations of Returning Officer for Region Four Clairmont Mingo.
But Jagdeo insisted that the CCJ endorsed the recount process fully and made it quite clear that the final declaration could only be made using the certified recount figures which show that the PPP/C won the elections with 233,336 votes.
“The President of the CCJ, could not be any clearer, when in his summary of the judgement…he made it clear that unless an elections court, though a petition, were to invalidate the votes that were counted in the recount process…that no person or authority in Guyana could do so,” he stated.
“So he was clear that the votes counted in the recount process could not be invalidated by GECOM, nor [Keith] Lowenfield,” Jagdeo added.
The PPP/C General Secretary reminded that GECOM has a constitutional responsibility to see that the will of the people is respected.
“The Commission has the authority vested by the Constitution of Guyana to ensure fair and impartiality, the Commission has the authority to see the will of the people is respected,” he stated.
