POLITICS-GUYANA: Invalid Government Can Remain in Office, Says High Court Judge

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Bert Wilkinson

GEORGETOWN, Jan 26 2001 (IPS) - The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government, which was effectively declared invalid last week after a high court judge struck down the elections that brought it to power, can remain in office, the same judge ruled Friday.

In a 10-minute presentation before a packed, but silent courtroom, Justice Claudette Singh said she had no powers to order President Bharrat Jagdeo and his administration to demit office as had been requested by lawyers for several opposition parties during hearings.

Instead she invoked what jurists call the doctrine of necessity, basically saying that somebody has to run the country and in this case, the current government. Fresh general elections are due on Mar. 19, in any case.

Justice Singh had earned high marks from opposition parties and their supporters last week when she invalidated the 1997 general elections on the grounds that a parliamentary stipulation that voters present a special identification card to cast their ballots, was unconstitutional.

“That judge has lots of courage” and “she is a good professional”, were sentiments heard expressed following the decision. But opinions changed quickly Friday afternoon when Singh allowed the government to remain in office.

“We are going to appeal this. I am going to file a cross appeal. This was a pro government decision,” said Rex McKay, the lead attorney for a coalition of opposition parties which had gone to court in 1998 to overturn the elections. “How can she say she has no power to remove them, but order that they remain,” said a clearly angry McKay.

In handing down her decision before stunned supporters of several opposition parties, Singh said that the administration would only be allowed to introduce and pass legislation relating to preparations for elections.

She ruled that laws passed by parliament and regional councils during the last three years are temporarily validated until fresh elections produce a new parliament that can validate or invalidate them.

She also withheld awarding costs to the petitioners, fixing next week for that battle.

Justice Singh’s ruling disregarded opposition suggestions that a caretaker government – perhaps headed by the judiciary chancellor as set out in the Constitution – run the country for the next two months.

“This is a great day for Guyana. This is good news for the country. She ruled as we had expected her to rule,” said Khemraj Ramjattan, one of the attorneys for government.

While some opposition supporters sat stony faced in the courtroom, long after the judge had adjourned court, dozens of others outside hurled expletives at Singh, calling her a “sellout”.

Police kept watch without interfering as the crowd called for opposition leader and former President Desmond Hoyte to come down to the courthouse and explain the ruling.

Ramjattan said that the ruling meant that the country would not be plunged into further crisis. His colleague, Ralph Ramkarran, had fought stoutly against any interim arrangement saying that by the time it got going, fresh elections would have long come and gone.

“It would have been a waste of time,” he told IPS this week.

Bowing to criticisms in open court by the opposition team, Justice Singh ordered that political coverage be limited to advertisements relating to elections only, a decision that left many unsure of what she meant.

The state-owned Guyana Chronicle, the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation and the GTV-11 television station have been at the receiving end of criticism, even from government supporters, for partisan coverage in favour of the government.

Justice Singh’s written ruling will be available Monday, she said, a week before the PPP officially launches its campaign for a third term.

The country is going to the polls in 2001 because of a special agreement between the PPP and the main opposition People’s National Congress (PNC) stemming from disputes about the conduct and fairness of the 1997 poll.

Worried that the street riots and demonstrations that followed those elections would have spilled over into full-scale anarchy, Caribbean leaders pushed the two into signing a deal that brought elections forward by two years.

The 2001 poll was originally scheduled for mid-January, but the elections commission said it was unable to meet that deadline and pushed it back to March.