Remember those 8,042 OCEANA referendum signatures that were disqualified by the Chief Elections Officer just before this year's elections?
For months, Oceana Belize has been in the Supreme Court trying to get those signatures recognized. Well, the Government struck a decisive blow against that case today - and it was on a simple tehcnicality.
Government attorney, Denys Barrow, made an application to strike it out based on the ground that the applicants didn't file the document applying for judicial review before the 14-day deadline expired.
Today, Justice Michelle Arana finally ruled on Barrow's application. She agreed with Barrow's submissions that they filed it on July 11, 6 days after the deadline.
As a result, Justice Arana struck the claim out, ending the matter at the Supreme Court. Indications from the applicants and their attorney, Godfrey Smith, are that they will review Justice Arana's written reasons, and consider if they have a prospect of an appeal of the decision.
As statement from Oceana Vice-President Audrey Matura-Shepherd says, quote "this issue will not go away. We will continue to work to allow the people of this country to have a say on offshore oil."
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