of the validity or credibility of an election is exclusively given to the High Court by Article 163 of the Constitution and does not fall within the powers of GECOM. [17] The Court of Appeal granted a Stay of its judgment for a period of three days. Inexplicably, however, on the day following the delivery of the judgment, and while the stay of proceedings was in effect, the CEO submitted another report to GECOM. Ostensibly basing himself upon the Decision of the Court of Appeal majority, he took it upon himself to invalidate such votes as he considered ought to be invalidated. This new report of his purported to invalidate well over 100,000 votes that had previously been counted and certified as valid votes within the meaning of the Representation of the People Act. The Application for Special Leave [18] On 23 June 2020, Messrs Ali and Jagdeo applied to this Court for special leave to appeal the Decision. Additionally, they applied for Interim Orders restraining GECOM from enquiring into the validity or credibility of the tabulated votes or taking any action that would usurp the exclusive jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 163 of the Constitution. [19] Upon receipt of the Application for Special Leave, but after the CEO had submitted his Report as indicated at [17] above, this Court issued an Order precluding GECOM from taking any steps that would prejudice the outcome of the Application for Special Leave. The Court also held a Case Management Conference on 25 June 2020 in which decisions were taken for the smooth and orderly hearing of all the parties who wished to be heard on the Application for Special Leave. Given the urgency, the Court decided to roll up into a single hearing both the Application for Special Leave and (in the event that the Court considered that Special Leave should be granted) the merits of the appeal itself. [20] The Court invited the parties to make written and oral submissions on the following issues:

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