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One More Election Petition Passes Just Before The Deadline
posted (April 10, 2012)
Today was the last day for the filing of election petitions.

And the PUP made sure to make use of the very last day - the party filed an election petition last week and at 1 this afternoon, that preliminary hearing was held before Justice Minette Hafiz.

The PUP's Orlando Habet has applied to the Supreme Court to have the election in Cayo Northeast voided - or at the very least, to have a recount ordered - based on the claim that the Returning Officer, Jose Castellanos, did not properly allow them to object to the 37 rejected votes.

As you may recall, the PUP lost in that division by only 17 votes.

Habet is represented by attorneys Said Musa and Anthony Sylvester, who have argued that within those 37 rejected ballots, Habet could have gotten the required votes to win the election.

Attorney Rodwell Williams, who is representing Penner and Castellanos, argued that the appellant has not met the threshold required to be granted the appeal. He was also able to deflate the appellant's case significantly by having a number of the grounds struck out of court.

After hearing both sides, Justice Bertram ordered that the application is granted because the Returning Officer needs to explain properly what he did and did not do while conducting the counting of the ballots.

We spoke to both sides today outside of court. Here's what they had to say about their submissions:

Said Musa - Attorney for the Appellant
"The Court did a computation based on a reading on that section that allowed for 28 days where bribery is alleged, and the court says that it should be computed from the date of the alleged offense rather than from the date of the publication in the Gazette."

Rowland Parks - Reporter Press
"But If I understand correctly, you cannot have an election petition if there is no election, which is my simple response to that."

Said Musa
"Well, you heard me argue the matter. I did not agree with the ruling of the court, but we, of course, have to abide by it."

Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, if I understand correctly, what happened is that today, you also filed an election petition. Can you explain to us why you did that?"

Said Musa
"No, we attached a copy of the petition that we intend to file along with the application for leave. We did that out of an abundance of caution simply because of this limitation on timing in which to file a petition, and no other reason. There was nothing sinister about it. In fact, we were giving away or hand even before we were granted leave. So the other side would know what we were claiming."

Rowland Parks
"Okay, so if we are to understand this process, you were given leave specifically for the recount aspect of your petition. There were other attachments to your petition that were denied by the court."

Said Musa
"The court, having heard the arguments and the affidavits of Mr. Orlando Habet and Mr. Codd in particular, has ruled that we would have leave to file the election petition because the issues surrounding the denial of the recount, that may require further deliberation on the part of the court. In other words, further evidence will be heard on both sides as to the circumstances that took place during the counting on the night of the election."

Rowland Parks
"But you are also seeking to void the result of the election based on this recount refusal. Can you elaborate on that?"

Said Musa
"The Representation of the People Act provides that if there is non-compliance with any of the sections of the act, this alone will constitute grounds for denying the validity of the election of the person against whom it is brought."

Rodwell Williams - Attorney for the Respondents
"The application on a multiplicity of grounds, bribery, treating, naturalizations, registration processing - you name it, every conceivable ground that - in other words, the whole kitchen sink was thrown."

Daniel Ortiz
"But you were able to get that stuff struck out."

Rodwell Williams
"Well yes, the judge accepted my preliminary objection say that given that they require 28 days from the date of the alleged bribery and treating, which allegedly occurred on March 7, 28 days would have expired last week Wednesday, April 4, and therefore, they cannot be considered for leave now. So, she disallowed them from seeking to apply for leave in relation to that ground. So, they were - in relation to that ground only within 21 days, counting from March 16. So they had until today to file - and they were given leave to bring a petition on the narrow ground that they're essentially alleging that the Returning Officer did not conduct the election in the way that the law prescribes. The judge indicated that she would want to hear from the Returning Officer and that's why she is allowing them to bring a petition on that narrow ground if, presumably, they can file it today."

Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, we realize that today is the last day in which an application can be filed, can you speak to us on some of the difficulties - or some of the challenges that the Judiciary faced, the bench and the bar, in trying to hear this particular one today?"

Rodwell Williams
"Well, quite frankly, my position is - and I maintained that position before the court - this particular application was set with the concurrence of the applicants for April 10, which would have been this Thursday, and which they would then have been out of time in absolutely every respect - 21 days or whatever other interpretation. It was set for Thursday, and I just got a call saying that it is now on for this afternoon at 1 o'clock. I was in my chambers with other matters, but when you are notified, you come. So, the challenge is that these things are to be brought - there is a screening process which requires that you need leave. One of the - in my view, but there is no appeal for this decision; the law says that there is no appeal for this decision - was that we discovered that these people had already filed a petition. The judge struck it out and said that she would not look at it. They already filed a petition without leave. That's a grave violation of law practice and procedure, which in my humble opinion - as I indicated to the judge; they filed a petition with affidavit that the judge said that she was striking out. However, that by itself, ought to have disqualified them from being able to move the court to get permission - even on this narrow ground - to bring another petition."

In total, leave has been granted for petitions to be heard four petitions to be heard - three from the PUP and one form the UDP. No date has been set for those hearings, and that is the end of it for the time being because the deadline for the filing of submissions has past.

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