APNU / AFC to appeal against rejection of second election petition

– The Leader of the Opposition still believes that the petition has merit

A week after A Partnership for National Unity / Alliance for Change (APNU / AFC) threw out one of his election petitions, Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon has signaled his party’s intention to appeal the decision.
Harmon made this pronunciation during a virtual press conference on Monday. He noted that the party believed it had sound grounds for the petition and would therefore appeal for her dismissal by Chief Justice Roxane George.

“I would like to address the issue of our election petitions. And I would like to assure all our supporters and Guyanese who are deeply interested in the outcome of this issue, we will follow through on our election petitions, both of them. Petition number 88, we will pursue it with unwavering energy. ”
“And I would appeal against the Chief Justice’s decision on petition 99, which he ruled was not permissible. We do not agree with her ruling and as the law provides, we will appeal against that decision, ”said the Leader of the Opposition.
According to Harmon, the petitions address key questions relating to the March 2. General and Regional Elections. However, in terms of the lone surviving petition, Harmon said they will make submissions to ‘ the court.
“While they are addressing separate issues, they will establish that fraud is widespread in the March 2020 elections … in relation to petition 88, we expect a hearing of that petition in the courts in early April. In the meantime, the parties will provide fortnightly court submissions, leading up to that date. So, we already have a timeline. ”

Petition 99 of 2020, filed September 15, 2020, by APNU / AFC agents Monica Thomas and Nurse Brennan, asked the court to order the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Retired Justice Claudette Singh, to declare that David Granger is President. However, Chief Justice George rejected the petition on the grounds that it had not been duly submitted to former President Granger.
Granger, who is also the leader of the APNU / AFC Candidate List and named second respondent, served September 25, 10 days after the filing of petition 99 of 2020 on September 15 and five days outside the legal and outlined in the National Assembly Elections Validity Act.
“Like [a] as a result, the late Petition 99 of 2020 service on the second respondent constitutes a lack of service on it. This would result in abolition of petition 99p2020 ab initio, more so as this status quo had to be considered by the court at the time of submission and not the case or position of a party or parties subsequently adopted. This is to say from the time a 99p2020 petition was presented out of time to the second respondent as a necessary party, it did not start, ”the Chief Justice had caused when she delivered her ruling.
Thomas and Nurse Named Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, David Granger – APNU / AFC, Horatio Edmonson – Federal United Party, Bharrat Jagdeo – People / Civic Progressive Party, John Flores – Freedom and Justice Party, Asha Kissoon – The New Movement, Vishnu Bandhu – United Republican Party, Adebin Kindi Ali – Change Guyana, Patrick Bourne – People’s Republic Party, Jonathan Yearwood – New and United Guyana, Shazam Ally – Citizenship Initiative, and Gerald Perreira from the Institute for the Victory of the People as respondents. The Attorney General’s Chambers also joined the case.
At the last hearing on November 30, 2020, prior to the ruling, Senior Trinidadian Counsel Douglas Mendes (representing the interest of Vice President Jagdeo and the PPP / C) and Attorney General Anil Nandlall argued that a late petition for Granger to serve as grounds for dismissal.
However, petitioners’ solicitors had asked the court to overlook the deficiencies in the petitioner service on Granger, who was the second respondent and the APNU / AFC’s Head of Candidate List, thus, saving their petition from being thrown out. They demanded that he be served on September 18 – in accordance with statutory requirements.