Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has moved to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), asking for the Court to reverse the decision of Guyana’s Court of Appeal which Monday, by majority decision, chose to say that in determining the results of the elections the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) must use “valid” votes. In its ruling Monday, the Court of Appeal did not grant any of the declarations seeking to block Lowenfield from submitting his report or from forcing GECOM to determine the credibility of the elections. But Jagdeo is leaving nothing to chance and moved to the Court over fears that Lowenfield would use the figures he alone, in agreement with APNU, calculated after calling into question scores of ballot boxes. Lowenfield’s calculations, after dumping hundreds of thousands of votes, would hand APNU+AFC a massive victory over the PPP. Article 177 (2) of the Constitution dictates that the party with the most votes wins the elections. But because the legal order for the recount signalled the need to establish the credibility of the elections, two of three Court of Appeal judges interpreted the meaning of the Constitution to say that the party with the most “valid” votes wins the elections. Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall is one of the attorneys who filed the case for Jagdeo.
