High Court denies order to block house to house registration

Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire Tuesday morning denied a conservatory order seeking to block the continuation of the national house to house registration process but she agreed to hear a case challenging the constitutionality of the process.

The injunction against the registration process, which commenced last Saturday, was filed by Attorney Christopher Ram.

The Chief Justice granted the Attorney General Basil Williams, Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield and the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) until July 29th to respond.

At Tuesday morning’s hearing, Attorney Neil Boston, who represents Lowenfield, asked for 14 days but this was denied.

He told the Chief Justice that he doesn’t see the need for what he described as “this indecent pace” of the matter.

The case is set for another hearing on August 2.

Thousands of persons have already registered since the house to house exercise commenced.

The Opposition People’s Progressive Party has announced that it is not cooperating with the exercise because it will drag on beyond the deadline for elections, which it seems as September 18, given the constitutional imperative to hold elections in three months, as dictated by the constitution on the passage of a No-Confidence motion.

The constitutional timeline kicked in on June 18, when the Caribbean Court of Justice, Guyana’s final appellate court, upheld the passage of the December 21 No Confidence motion.

The Chief Justice told attorneys that she wasn’t convinced that GECOM is not hurrying to prepare for elections by September 18.