The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) will on Tuesday bring final resolution to a constitutional crisis caused by the passage of a no-confidence motion in Guyana's National Assembly in December, last year.
CCJ President Adrian Saunders and his four colleagues are expected to deliver judgement in a series of appeals, which emanated from the passage of the controversial motion, at the CCJ's headquarters at Henry Street in Port-of-Spain at 10 am.
In the main appeal, lawyers representing the country's Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, ousted government member Charrandas Persaud and social activist Christopher Ram challenged the decision of Guyana's Court of Appeal to strike down the controversial motion, which was passed by a slim 33 to 32 majority in December, last year.
They suggested that the Appeal Court got it wrong when it stated that the formula for calculating the majority for the motion was dividing the number of assembly members by two, rounding off and adding one. They suggest a simple majority as was taken last year was all that was required.
In addition to the issue of calculating the majority, the parties also presented lengthy submissions on Persaud's validity as an assembly member and his ability to vote against the government in the motion.
They claimed that Article 156 of Guyana's Constitution, which requires assembly members to indicate if they wish to vote against their party and be removed a result, was only applicable if they were attempting to cross the floor to another party and not in a conscience vote as done by Persaud.
They also suggested that Persaud's position on the assembly could not be challenged based on his dual citizenship as it should have been done in an election petition, shortly after he was elected in 2015.
In response, lawyers representing Guyana's Attorney General Basil Williams, political activist Compton Reid and Minister of State in the Office of President Joseph Harmon, contended that the Court of Appeal was correct in its majority ruling.
They contended that the special majority of 34 was required in the country's assembly as the country follows a system of proportional representation, under which a political party could be elected by attaining the most votes but with a minority of assembly positions.
They also contended that Persaud's position could be invalidated as the attorney at law would have known that he was not eligible for elections when he signed a statutory declaration to enter the poll. They also filed a cross-appeal in which they are contending that under the Constitution only the Government could bring a motion of confidence as opposed to a no-confidence motion.
In the event, that the appeal is allowed, the CCJ is expected to hear further submissions from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) over its ability to facilitate an election.
GECOM has previously claimed that hat it could only facilitate it by October and November due to financial issues and delays in compiling a new voters list.
The court is also expected to rule on another appeal in which the appointment of GECOM's chairman James Patterson was challenged.