Chief Justice Roxane George has extended an order for the Statements of Poll (SOPs) and Statements of Recount (SORs) from the March 2020 elections to remain in the custody of the Registrar of the Supreme Court until all appeals are completed. She made this consequential order following her ruling today, in which she dismissed Election Petition 88. That petition, filed by the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Opposition, challenged, inter alia, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM)’s operationalisation of Order 60, which enabled a recount of all ballots cast in those elections.
“As regards to the orders made for securing the Statements of Poll and the Statements of Recount, the order granted is further extended. These documents are to remain in the custody of the Registrar of the Supreme Court until all appeals have been completed or a court orders otherwise,” the CJ said.
In January of this year, the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield submitted those documents to the Registrar, Sueanna Lovell for safekeeping. His submission of those documents was in observance of an order that the CJ, herself, issued. SOPs illustrate the number of votes each contesting political party received at a polling station, whereas the SORs reflect numbers produced from the recounting of ballots.
