The Full Court comprising Chief Justice Roxane George and Judge Nareshwar Harnanan this morning paused a trial into the case blocking the CARICOM-supervised recount of votes until tomorrow, Tuesday, March 31, when it will rule on whether or not Justice Franklin Holder erred in ruling that he had jurisdiction to hear the matter. This morning the Full Court of Demerara heard lengthy arguments.
Last Friday, Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo had swiftly filed an action in the Full Court in which he asked for a stay of the proceedings before Justice Franklin Holder in the national votes recount case while an appeal is being heard and determined.
Jagdeo’s lawyers, Trinidad-based Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes and Anil Nandlall are arguing that Justice Holder erred in law in arriving at that decision. They are still insisting that Justice Holder has no jurisdiction to hear the application filed by APNU+AFC Candidate, Ulita Moore, as it questions decisions made by GECOM under Section 140 of the Representation of the People Act. According to him, the decisions made under the aforesaid provisions are “precluded from inquiry by any court.”
Nandlall had previously explained, “So you have a jurisdictional bar created by the Representation of the People’s Act against a court inquiring into decisions made by GECOM. And Ulita Moore’s entire case rests upon asking the court to overrule decisions made by GECOM and to inquire into how those decisions were made and those things cannot be inquired into according to the Representation of the People’s Act.
Moore, who is asking the court for a declaration that the decision by GECOM to have a high-level team from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) supervise the recount is in contravention of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, has already secured an interim injunction blocking the recount.
Apart from the declaration that GECOM’s decision is unlawful, Moore is further seeking an order prohibiting GECOM from conducting what she says is an unlawful recount of the votes, and to have the already declared results, for the 10 electoral districts be made final. The injunction came at a time when GECOM said it was examining the legal ramifications of an agreement between the incumbent President and Jagdeo for CARICOM to oversee the recount of all ballots for the 10 electoral districts.
GECOM reported that it was already in receipt of a copy of the Aide Memoire that was signed by Granger and Jagdeo and witnessed by CARICOM’s Secretary General, Irwin Larocque to facilitate the recount. GECOM was also in the process of having an order gazetted to that effect. The high-level CARICOM team sent here to supervise the recount has since packed up and left.
In her affidavit, GECOM’s Chairperson Retired Judge Claudette Singh has already reaffirmed her commitment to the national recount. As a matter of fact, Justice Singh has insisted that GECOM is constitutionally empowered to order such a process.
To support her contention, the Chairperson relied on Article 162(1) (b) of the Constitution which reads that GECOM, “shall issue such instructions and take such action as appear to if necessary and expedient to ensure impartiality, fairness and compliance with the provisions of this Constitution or of any Act of Parliament on the part of persons exercising powers or performing duties connected with or relating to the matters aforesaid.”
“The CARICOM [team] was simply the mechanism used to give effect to the recount. The order prepared by GECOM [for the recount] itself provided the reason for the necessity of the intervention by the Commission. It shows clearly that the CARICOM team was just the mechanism to assist in providing credible elections results to the nation,” Justice Singh has submitted.
Against this backdrop, Justice Singh has asked the court to reject Moore’s application and that GECOM be permitted to execute its constitutional functions with or without the CARICOM agreement.
