Guyana Appeal Court in Kingston. Georgetown.
The Court of Appeal on Wednesday fixed an early date for the hearing of an appeal of a High Court decision that upheld that the votes from the national recount must be used to declare the results of the March, 2020 general and regional elections.
The court will Saturday morning starting at 10:00 hrs hear oral submissions from lawyers representing both the applicants and respondents. Presiding over the case are: Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory-Barnes and Rishi Persaud, along with Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.
During the case management hearing, Justice Gregory-Barnes said that submissions by the appellants would have to be filled by Thursday, while the respondents were expected to file their submissions by Friday morning. Cross appeals are also being filed by the Attorney General Basil Williams and the People’s Progressive Party’s Attorney Douglas Mendes.
Attorney-at-Law, Neil Boston representing Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, told that court that he would not participate in the appeal. The appeal case was filed by attorney Mayo Robertson on behalf of APNU+AFC agent Ms. Misenga Jones who is challenging Chief Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire’s ruling on several grounds.
In her application, Ms. Jones argued that the chief justice erred in law when she held that the issues raised in the case and the constitutionality of Section 22 of the Elections Amendment Act were both res judicata.
But in handing down her judgement on Monday, the Chief Justice said that the Guyana Court of Appeal has already pronounced on the issue, and that she was bound to follow that decision, pointing out that the applicant did not provide the High Court with any basis for that point to be reexamined.
The appeal is also challenging the Chief Justice’s ruling in relation to jurisdiction, and paragraphs 106 and 107 of the judgement of the majority of the Court of Appeal in the Ulita Moore versus Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), saying that she misconstructed that ruling.
However, the Chief Justice on Monday said too that she based her judgement on decisions by the Guyana Court of Appeal and the Caribbean Court of Justice.
LIVESTREAM OF PROCEEDINGS
The Guyana Court of Appeals’ case management proceedings in the Misenga Jones v The Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) et al. can be viewed below via livestream.
