Election Petition Hearing Terms of Reference Facilitator St. Lucia Statement The Herdmanston Accord Guyana Elections: Part II? Guyana Elections:Part I? December 15, 1997 Elections De-classified Documents "The Herdmanston Accord was signed in January l998 in a very specific context. There were continuing post-election protests which had led to violence and the country was almost at a standstill. Peace was restored on the basis that there would be an audit of the results (Election Petition), dialogue between the two main parties, a Commission would be set up to advise on constitutional reform and that two years of the government's five year term would be sacrificed. There would be an election early in the year 200l." Stabroek News, 6/26/99. [Please note: links provided by LOSP web site]. 1997 Election Petition Ruling Consequential Order Dissolution of Parliament looms February 8, 2001 Private firm transcribing evidence books February 8, 2001 Government holds office by virtue of court order February 6, 2001 The elections petition February 1, 2001 Perreira's counsel files cross appeal January 31, 2001 Respondents seek reversal of poll petition ruling January 30, 2001 The judge's order settled the issue January 29, 2001 Appeals against judge's elections ruling January 29, 2001 Lawyers push different views on reason for nullification January 29, 2001 Justice Claudette Singh's order January 29, 2001 Of abuse and threats January 28, 2001 Politics -- after judge's ruling January 28, 2001 Is our nation fact or fiction? January 28, 2001 Tempered justice January 28, 2001 PNC/R criticises judge over orders in elections case January 28, 2001 Court in Jamaica elections petition ruled against ID objection January 28, 2001 Govt to stay but with some limitations - judge January 27, 2001 Government stays in office - judge rules January 27, 2001 Contesting parties should commit to code of conduct January 27, 2001 Government respects judge's ruling - President January 27, 2001 Reactions to the judge's ruling January 27, 2001 Judge's orders `wise, just' January 27, 2001 Parties fail to agree January 26, 2001 The Elections decision January 25, 2001 Lawyers to consult parties and meet again today January 25, 2001 Poll petition order postponed to Friday January 24, 2001 Judge again puts off order from elections petition January 24, 2001 Petition ruling raises questions for next poll January 22, 2001 Lawyers push different views on reason for nullification January 22, 2001 Judge's order would form basis for discussion January 22, 2001 Justice Claudette Singh's ruling on the poll petition January 22, 2001 Guyana situation likely to work itself out January 21, 2001 Too many words, too little exactness January 21, 2001 Waiting for the 'second judgement' January 21, 2001 Nightmare on Elections Street January 21, 2001 Trying to upstage America January 21, 2001 Govt, laws illegal - McKay January 19, 2001 Arguments continue on resulting order January 19, 2001 Conflicts between elections laws and Constitution must be reviewed January 19, 2001 1997 elections voided January 16, 2001 Judge declares Guyana election null and void January 16, 2001 Hoyte says court ruling vindicates PNC stance January 16, 2001 Elections results upheld January 16, 2001 Verification checks show 1997 voters' list grossly inflated September 8, 2000 Judge reserves decision September 2, 2000 Trotman delivers closing address as elections petition nears end August 3, 2000 Database can be used for voters list but flaws must be tackled August 1, 2000 Ramkarran replaces McDoom on Elections Commission August 1, 2000 CARICOM audit report regrettably vague July 27, 2000 Britton continues address July 21, 2000 Britton argues on ballot boxes July 19, 2000 Senior Counsel Britton continues address July 18, 2000 McKay concludes submissions July 14, 2000 Lawful conduct of polls can be considered separately from results July 11, 2000 Votes cannot be negated because of mistakes by electoral officials June 9, 2000 CAC report revealed marginal differences in vote count June 7, 2000 Elections petition must be viewed dispassionately June 2, 2000 `It was ridiculous to submit that ballot boxes were tampered with' June 2, 2000 Closing addresses resume as 'original' erratum still elusive June 1, 2000 Singh says rigging might have been between 1964 and 1985 June 1, 2000 Witness to present original erratum May 31, 2000 Ramkarran seeks to certify CANA report May 30, 2000 Second round of bitter debate settles tiff over Orderson letter May 29, 2000 Court asked to summon Carrington, Mitchell May 26, 2000 Law must be amended for counting of ID cards May 24, 2000 Holistic view required to decide fairness of elections May 24, 2000 Not one tittle of evidence presented of impropriety May 23, 2000 Doodnauth Singh, S.C., addresses the Court May 23, 2000 Lawyers in elections petition close cases May 18, 2000 Audit report erratum admitted in evidence May 18, 2000 McKay argues against admission of Carrington's letter to Hoyte May 16, 2000 Elections body secretariat will be made permanent May 15, 2000 Lawyers argue against voter ID card count May 11, 2000 Ramkarran argues for reviewof ID card count decision May 9, 2000 Judge to be asked to review Voter ID card ruling May 5, 2000 Order served for Hoyte to hand over CARICOM audit documents May 5, 2000 Judge defers ruling on documents May 4, 2000 Voter ID cards data required from CARICOM Secretariat April 30, 2000 Judge says no to ID card count April 28, 2000 ID card count could take three weeks April 27, 2000 Doodnauth Singh asks court to count voter ID cards April 18, 2000 Elections donor support awaits establishment of commission April 14, 2000 Lawyers argue over admissibility of documents April 13, 2000 Lawyers clash over Cross's letter April 12, 2000 No difference in PNC's poll statements witness April 11, 2000 Elections Commission bill passed April 11, 2000 Stanley Singh asks to address court if counsel does not appear April 6, 2000 Elections Commission lawyers fail to appear April 6, 2000 Cross-examination of Stanley Singh ends April 5, 2000 'We were ready for polls' April 4, 2000 It's human to make errors when writing 431,000 slips March 30, 2000 Administrative bungling caused mismatched ballot box numbers March 29, 2000 Singh speaks of the Region Four ballot boxes March 29, 2000 Elections Commission was without a secretary since 1996 March 28, 2000 Lawyers to file contempt motion against Rickey Singh March 28, 2000 Announcing that result could not be achieved was not an option March 28, 2000 McKay questions CEO's predictions March 24, 2000 More procedural errors admitted to March 23, 2000 Unstamped ballots may be attributed to careless Presiding Officers March 23, 2000 CEO Singh tells Court about an 'honest unlawful act' March 17, 2000 CEO admits rewriting poll statements March 17, 2000 Dec 19 declaration of presidency was a betrayal March 16, 2000 Chief Elections Officer recalls staff running `helter-skelter' March 16, 2000 Chief election officer says no bias in ID card distribution March 15, 2000 Senior manager testifies March 14, 2000 Flow of witnesses at a trickle February 23, 2000 'Blackie' blamed for witnesses' absence February 10, 2000 Elections Commission may call 292 more witnesses February 4, 2000 Election petition February 2, 2000 Four witnesses testify in elections petition hearing February 2, 2000 PPP agents quizzed on why they are testifying for commission January 21, 2000 Absent PPP witnesses cause furore, case adjourned again January 20, 2000 Agents quizzed on poll statements discrepancies January 14, 2000 Trotman want to know how many more witnesses to be called January 12, 2000 Deputy returning officers say ballot boxes were sealed December 18, 1999 More audit observers clarify notes December 16, 1999 Significant number of voters had no ID cards December 13, 1999 PPP's Rodney agrees with Audit observation December 13, 1999 Only 160 poll statements unsigned, officers explained why December 9, 1999 PPP observer quizzed on poll audit notes Another PPP/C observer testifies December 8, 1999 PPP observer quizzed on poll audit notes December 8, 1999 Report found no concern about ballot boxes integrity December 3, 1999 O'Lall quizzed on notes of Audit exercise December 2, 1999 PPP/Civic observer attests to discrepancies uncovered in audit December 2, 1999 Testimony continues on audit report November 30, 1999 Candidate cross-examined on elections audit report November 25, 1999 Poll statement were not checked to see if properly filled November 22, 1999 Witness recalls fiasco at North Ruimveldt Multilateral November 18, 1999 Witness tells of broadcast changing movement of ballots November 16, 1999 Witness says all her presiding officers phoned in poll results November 13, 1999 Region Four deputy returning officer says all her statements were signed November 12, 1999 More presiding officers disown poll statements November 11, 1999 Two voters had same name, ID number November 10, 1999 Only eight more Presiding Officers to testify November 10, 1999 Ballot box opened after close of polls November 4, 1999 Presiding officer accepts then disowns signature November 3, 1999 One more Presiding Officer testifies November 2, 1999 Presiding Officer says he reported results from memory October 30, 1999 Presiding officer replaced before end of polls October 30, 1999 Four more word-of-mouth appointees testify October 29, 1999 PPP condemns PNC leader for comments on elections petition October 29, 1999 Court hears from more unexpectedly named Presiding Officers October 28, 1999 Chief Elections Officer seeks release of polling material October 28, 1999 Poll clerk elevated to presiding officer on election eve October 28, 1999 Presiding Officer disclaims signature October 27, 1999 Witness claims signatures as hers despite difference October 27, 1999 Three more Presiding Officers plead memory lapses October 26, 1999 Presiding Officer says she may have forgotten to sign Statement of Poll October 25, 1999 Poll material handed to someone in mini-bus October 23, 1999 Court hears of polling station without results forms October 22, 1999 Poll statement was not included in voting day package October 22, 1999 Presiding Officer says she used two signatures October 21, 1999 Presiding Officer alleges fraud with official poll figures October 20, 1999 Changes on poll statement fraudulent October 20, 1999 Signed statement by presiding officer turns up after all October 18, 1999 Poll statement dated after voting day October 15, 1999 Witness describes Elections Commission document as a forgery October 13, 1999 Court hears untrained woman presided at polling station October 12, 1999 Witness tells court she served as presiding officer though untrained October 12, 1999 Witness admits to letting aide prepare poll statements October 5, 1999 Region Four Presiding Officer John admitted lying under oath October 4, 1999 Presiding Officer admits not certifying poll result September 30, 1999 Presiding Officer admits not certifying poll result September 30, 1999 More presiding officers dispute poll statement contentions September 29, 1999 Presiding officers continue to disown poll statements September 22, 1999 More presiding officers disown unsigned poll statements September 18, 1999 Presiding officer says she signed all her poll statements September 15, 1999 Singh, Husain disagree over 'Olympics runners' remark September 14, 1999 CEO made major changes on elections eve September 11, 1999 Unsigned statements used in ballot count September 10, 1999 Key Region Four officer concedes larger number of unsigned documents September 7, 1999 Region Four Returning Officer begins testimony September 7, 1999 From registration to poll results July 26, 1999 Elections petition adjourned to Sept July 29, 1999 Witness with vision recommends penalties for future polls July 28, 1999 McKay, Singh in verbal clash over Cross Report July 27, 1999 Witness denies report done by commission July 27, 1999 Region Seven officer unable to explain unauthorised signature July 24, 1999 Poll officer denies juggling figures July 22, 1999 Lawyers clash over description of uncertified votes tallies July 22, 1999 Witness to submit names of duplicate voter card holders July 21, 1999 Returning Officer admits several problems with poll statements July 20, 1999 Region Two officer admits unable to check accuracy of report July 17, 1999 Region Eight Returning Officer reports no complaints July 15, 1999 Region Eight's returning officer tenders report July 14, 1999 Region Eight Returning Officer reports no complaints July 14, 1999 One more Returning Officer to testify today July 13, 1999 Gajadar grilled on Region 6 arrangements July 12, 1999 Elections petition... Gajadhar cannot verify accuracy of Region Six results July 10, 1999 Witness admits to difficulty in reconciling ballot box numbers July 8, 1999 Region Six report unverifiable -- witness admits July 3, 1999 Berbice Returning Officer claims Presiding Officers bungled July 3, 1999 Region Six returning officer presents report July 1, 1999 Elections petition... Berbice Returning Officer says he received no complaints July 1, 1999 Witness admits to writing numbers on returns June 30, 1999 Witness to produce original list of presiding officers June 26, 1999 Gilgeous to produce more documents for elections petition June 26, 1999 Witness presents unsigned, undated report June 25, 1999 Gilgeous admits excluding problems from polls report June 25, 1999 Judge hints at step to expedite elections petition June 24, 1999 Illegible report forces premature adjournment June 23, 1999 Returning Officer produces 247 Statements Of Poll in Court June 22, 1999 Judge orders witness to produce 1997 elections documents June 19, 1999 Witness asked to produce statements of poll June 19, 1999 Returning Officer Persaud faces extensive grilling on report June 17, 1999 Witness opines police stations were not secure enough June 16, 1999 Another Returning Officer witness at elections petition June 16, 1999 Bakker cross-examined on role before, after balloting June 15, 1999 Expert identifies some flaws in Guyana's constitution June 12, 1999 Registrar maintains report compiled from Region Ten data June 11, 1999 Bakker admits free and fair report is hearsay June 11, 1999 Elections were above board June 4, 1999 Bakker declares 1997 Region 10 elections free June 3, 1999 Count observer concurs 45,145 voted without IDs May 14, 1999 Most Region Six ballot boxes had items missing May 13, 1999 AFG witness claims auditors ignored many irregularities May 13, 1999 One-third of Region Four ballots were unstamped May 12, 1999 A © page from: Guyana: Land of Six Peoples