Leader of incumbent regime, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) President David Granger, is appealing to supporters to be patient as the party contemplates its next move, now that the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has scrapped the report by the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, which projected a win for the party at the March 2 polls.
“The CCJ has not allowed the position that our Court of Appeal has taken but it means that the matter will now have to go back to the Election Commission. So, the matter is not closed, it now has to go back to the Election Commission. We all have to be patient. The CCJ has not allowed the position that our Court of Appeal has taken but it means that the matter will now have to go back to the Election Commission. So, the matter is not closed, it now has to go back to the Election Commission. We all have to be patient,” Granger told supporters outside State House this afternoon, minutes after the CCJ delivered a rendering of its judgement.
The leader said that his party is committed to the rule of law. However, the CCJ made it clear that such allegations made by the APNU+AFC during the recount of the votes, which fall beyond the parameters of what constitutes an invalid vote, must be addressed through an elections petition.
“Our party, our partnership and our Coalition are committed to the rule of law. We all went out on the 2nd of March. March passed, April passed, May passed, June passed and now we’re in July. It is the first time this has happened in the history of our country and it has happened because there are some bad elements out there who tried to manipulate the vote by having votes recorded for dead people (and) people who had migrated, more votes in a polling station than they had electors. We know all of the faults, our party, our partnership and our coalition has been bringing these complaints of abuses and irregularities to the attention of the public and also to the attention of the court,” he said.
He pointed out that the CCJ has made no coercive orders, which means they have not given any instructions to what GECOM is empowered under the laws of Guyana to do.
“We will have to assess the situation in which we are in now. The matter will go back to the Election Commission but as far as we are concerned, we have evidence that there has been massive fraud and irregularities and we will continue the fight to make sure that your votes are counted,” he assured party supporters.
