Appeal Court invalidates no-confidence vote

By a majority decision, the Appeal Court has invalidated the passage of the no-confidence motion against the government, saying that an “absolute majority” of 34 votes were needed.

Acting Chancellor and Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justice of Appeal Dawn Gregory disagreed with an earlier ruling by acting Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire, who upheld the validity of the passage of the motion. Justice of Appeal Rishi Persaud, in a dissenting ruling, upheld the Chief Justice’s ruling on the motion. 

The ruling is a reprieve for the government, which has been pressured by the parliamentary opposition PPP/C for the holding of new elections within a three-month deadline in keeping with Article 106 of the constitution.

Government lost the vote on the motion as a result of one of its members, Charrandass Persaud, opting to vote for the motion, thereby resulting in 33 votes in its favour to 32 against. 

The Guyana Court of Appeal