Lawyers clash over description of uncertified votes tallies
COUNSEL on both sides in the elections petition fiercely disagreed yesterday over a declaration by one of them that Statements of Poll (SOPs) without endorsements were a nullity. Senior Counsel Doodnauth Singh, appearing for number one respondent, Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Stanley Singh, strongly objected to the description by Mr Saphier Husain, also an attorney-at-law, who is representing himself as List Representative of National Independent Party (NIP). The lawyer Singh suggested that Husain reserve his description of the votes tallies for when he is making his final address to Justice Claudette Singh. The judge did not rule on the issue which triggered the clash but Husain, who was continuing to cross-examine Ramjit Singh, Returning Officer in Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) for the 1997 general elections, proceeded to press the witness for names of the Presiding Officers involved and the polling stations. Noting the persistence, Senior Counsel Siungh told Husain:"You will get all of them. All the Presiding Officers are coming to give evidence. If you want 1,800 of them, you will get all of them." "Most of them might escape to Venezuela by then," Husain quipped in response. Earlier, on resuming his oath yesterday, the Returning Officer, responding to requests by Husain the previous day, presented a computerised copy of the report he presented to the Elections Commission and a statement from Guyana Stores Limited (GSL) showing he had paid $2,274 for putting the compendium in book form. However, the witness said he was unable to trace the identity of the six persons he said were in receipt of double voter identification (ID) cards. He explained that he met the GSL expenditure from his own money and was reimbursed by the Commission, with a Home Affairs Ministry cheque. Asked to state why the figures on the compilation he produced yesterday differed from what was already in Court, the witness said his compositon was prepared in a hurry and that he had forwarded it to the Commission without checking. After he had checked it, with assistance from his clerk, he found typographical errors and made the necessary changes but did not do the corrections on the document previously submitted. The documentation accepted before yesterday contain a series of typing mistakes, the witness acknowledged. The Returning Officer reported that 14 Presiding Officers in Region Two did not sign some SOPs as required by law and there were others with signatures he could not identify. He agreed, too, that many SOPs had not been endorsed by polling agents, in accordance with the regulations. It was at that stage that Husain declared all the unauthenticated SOPs to be no good. In these proceedings, Esther Perreira, a People's National Congress (PNC) supporter, of Lot 75 South Sophia, Greater Georgetown, is challenging the validity of the 1997 balloting. She is seeking to annul the results on the ground that the process was so flawed the outcome cannot be said to accurately reflect the will of the electorate. As part of her quest, she has named, also as respondents, President Janet Jagan of the governing People's Progressive Party/Civic alliance and PNC Leader Desmond Hoyte, among the other List Representatives of political parties which contested. But, all the politicians cited, except Hamilton Green of A Good and Green Guyana (AGGG), have pledged to abide the ruling in the case which continues today.
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