In response to the opposition PPP/C’s challenge to APNU+AFC technocrat ministers Winston Felix and Keith Scott sitting in the National Assembly, Attorney General (AG) Basil Williams has argued that the High Court has no jurisdiction to hear the matter which was filed by motion and not by an election petition.
At the presentation of preliminary arguments before Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang, Williams and former AG Anil Nandlall clashed yesterday as they presented varying positions on the issue.
Williams premised his submissions on the basis that the opposition’s application for redress on the issue by way of a motion before the court, is an affront to strict statutory provisions, which he says clearly provides for such matters to be ventilated via an election petition.
Referring to a number of case-law authorities and constitutional provisions, Williams said that since the matter is one which touches and concerns Felix and Scott as elected members of the National Assembly and the PPP’s contention of their validity as sitting members of parliament (MPs), then the PPP must move by way of an election petition and not a motion.
Williams noted that the PPP has filed an election petition and that these issues should be dealt with, therein.
The opposition’s position since the May 11 general elections is that it has been robbed of votes through a carefully planned rigging process on the part of the APNU+AFC coalition. Local and international observers have declared the polls free and fair.
Acknowledging that his party has filed an election petition, Nandlall argued in response, that the PPP/C’s contention in the instant case, has nothing to do with the substantive elections nor the “election” of Felix and Scott as members of the National Assembly, but
