GEORGETOWN, Guyana– The Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the controversial March 2, 2020, regional and general election that brought the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C0 into office will begin its work on November 3, according to an official statement issued here.
It said that the terms of reference have been completed and published in the official gazette and that the COI is expected to be completed within seven months.
]President Irfaan Ali announced the Commission, chaired by retired Justice of Appeal from Trinidad and Tobago, Justice Stanley John, that will “inquire into and report upon the relevant circumstances and events leading up to, and the procedures following, the Regional and General Elections.”
The Commission is to inquire into the counting, ascertaining, and tabulation of votes polled and the public declaration of those results by the Returning Officer of Electoral District No.4 and other election officers, as prescribed by the Representation of the People Act (ROPA),
It will also seek to establish what attempts, if any, were made to obstruct, frustrate, subvert, and prevent the counting, ascertainment, and tabulation of votes polled and a declaration of the actual results of Electoral District No.4.
According to the terms of reference, the Commission will, among other things, also investigate what attempts, if any, were made to obstruct, frustrate, subvert, and prevent a decision of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) made on March 14, 2020 “to conduct a national recount of the votes polled at the General and Regional Elections from being executed and implemented…including inquiring into the conduct of the Chief Election Officer, other elections officers, and others in respect of the discharge and execution of the statutory duties of the Chief Election Officer prescribed by the ROPA Act.
Last month, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, S.C, told the media that the COI would in no way influence election petition proceedings before the courts here as well as the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) because the CCJ has already heard one election petition appeal.
“They are not connected [with] those matters ([because they) are already in the court, they were filed two years before the commission, and there is absolutely no nexus between the two,” he said then.
Last month, opposition legislator Ganesh Mahipaul wrote to the Commissioner of Information (COI), retired Justice Charles Ramson seeking to find out how much money will be paid to the Commissioners.
The opposition coalition, A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), has already said there was a need for consultation with the opposition to secure broad-based acceptance of the Commission.
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