Mingo threatened with contempt of court proceedings

The Returning Officer for the District Four electoral district has been threatened with contempt of court proceedings if he fails to follow the orders made by Chief Justice Roxane George on Wednesday.

In a letter written to Mr Mingo and sent to the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and others, Mr Mingo was reminded that the Chief Justice ruled that he should commence compliance with Section 84 (1) of the Representation of the People Act, Chapter 1:03 by adding up the votes recorded from District Four “in accordance with the Statements of Poll.”

In the letter written by Attorney Anil Nandlall, it was noted that the process of adding up must take place, as indicated by Section 84 (1) in the presence of: (A) The Returning Officer, and such other Elections Officer appointed by him (B) The Elections Commission (C) Duly appointed Candidates (D) Counting Agents (E) Such other persons, as in the opinion of the Returning Officer, have good reason to be present.

Mr Nandlall noted that instead of using the SOPs, Mr Mingo chose to use a pre-prepared spreadsheet as the basis for ascertaining and adding up the votes.

Mr Nandlall said that none of the duly appointed candidates for electoral district 4 were permitted to be present at the exercise.

He said that the actions of the Returning Officer “constitute flagrant violations” of the orders of the Chief Justice.

“I wish to remind you that Contempt of Court is a criminal offence which attracts as a punishment a term of imprisonment and aiding and abetting a contempt carries the same penalty as the contempt itself,” Nandlall said in his letter to Mr Mingo.

Nandlall declared to Mingo: “We demand immediate and strict compliance with the Court’s order.”

The letter was copied to the Chair of GECOM, The Chief Elections Officer Clairmont Mingo, the Commissioners of GECOM and Neil Boston, SC, attorney for Mr Mingo.