GUYANA | Court of Appeal rules: Election petition appeal must proceed

GEORGETOWN,  Guyana, October 3, 2022 - Following a 19-month delay,  the Guyana Court of Appeal on Monday says  it will expeditiously hear the election petition Appeal by the opposition A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), which challenges the April 2021 decision of the High Court that there is nothing unconstitutional about Section 22 of the Election Laws (Amendment) Act and Order 60 (Recount Order),  which enabled the electoral victory by the People's Progressive Party Civic.

The move by Bharrat Jagdeo’s attorney Douglas Mendes, to have a motion seeking an early hearing of  the election petition case, dismissed, was rebuffed by  the Appeals Court which said “It is the court’s view, that in the public’s interest, and the wider interest of justice, matters of this nature should be heard and should be determined in a timely manner.” 

Chancellor of the Judiciary Yonette Cummings and Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory and Rishi Persaud, the Guyana Court of Appeal, said: “A party or an applicant should not be turned away from the seat of justice given the nature of this matter and, therefore, in the interest of justice we will grant the application, as filed or sought by Mr Forde.”

“But whether the failure to conduct and prosecute the appeal with due dispatch lies in the bosom of the counsel for the appellant…or whether it lies at the feet of the judicial system itself… is an issue that will have to be investigated. But nevertheless, a party or the appellant should not be turned away from the seat of justice,” the Chancellor Justice Cummings said.

The election petition seeks to nullify the results of the March 2, 2020 elections because of non-compliance with Guyana’s constitution and electoral laws relating  to the conduct of those polls by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

In applying for a speedy hearing of the appeal on behalf of the applicants Heston Bostwick and Claudette Thorne, Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde told the court that 19-months after the Court’s decision, there was only a draft transcript of the Chief Justice’s decision. 

“Your honour, we respectfully submit that we would have suffered up to now, at this stage, a substantial prejudice by the failure to have the full decision made and laid over before the court, upon which we could first establish and access the record of the appeal,” Senior Counsel Forde said. 

He told the Court that the appellants could not be blamed for the delay as, “at the time of the ruling, the Chief Justice specifically indicated that her full decision would follow, however, the full judgment is still pending.”

However,  Senior Counsel, Douglas Mendes, who is representing Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo – the fourth named respondent – admitted that given the nature of the appeal, it ought to be heard urgently, noting that the case has implications for the composition of the National Assembly.

However, he submitted that the Motion to expedite the case should have been filed simultaneously with the Notice of Appeal given its importance but the petitioners, through their attorneys, failed to do so.

The Chancellor, in wrapping up Monday’s hearing, said whether the failure to conduct and prosecute that appeal was due to Mr Forde and his team or the judicial administration “would have to be investigated.” 

The appellants are contending that the Recount Order which facilitated the national vote recount was unconstitutional.

The Guyana Court of Appeal has set November 1, 2022 for the status of the records including the full judgement by Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire.  The court also gave Mr Forde seven days from October 3 to serve the notice of appeal on the other parties.