Chief Justice orders that GECOM hands over Statements of Polls, Recount for safe keeping by the High Court
The 2, 339 Statements of Polls (SOPs) from the March 02, 2020 General and Regional Elections are to be retrieved from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and handed over to the Registrar of the High Court.
Chief Justice (ag), Roxane George said this will be done to allow for safe keeping of the documents which will likely support arguments in the upcoming elections petition case. She said the Statements of Recount (SORs) will also be retrieved and kept in the possession of the Registrar.
The Chief Justice is expected to issue an order shortly which will allow for a Marshall of the Court to retrieve the documents from the Guyana Elections Commission. Justice George made the declaration on Monday, moments after dismissing the second elections petition (99/P) filed by the APNU+AFC Coalition while keeping the first petition (88/P).
The SOPs and SORs are expected to serve as evidence when the case is heard. The SORs also include observation reports which the Coalition has said it intends to also rely on to prove its case. But although it intends to use the observation reports from the recount, the Coalition is still withholding the copies of its Statements of Polls.
Back in March 2020, High Court Judge, Franklyn Holder, had refused an application made to him for GECOM to produce in court the SOPs for District Four.
In Petition 88 of 2020, the APNU+AFC is challenging the legitimacy of the elections report which allowed for Dr. Irfaan Ali to be sworn in as President. The Coalition had said previously that based on SOPs in its position, it emerged the winners of the elections; this is contrary to figures produced from the recount exercise.
Justice Franklyn Holder did himself no favors in this matter.