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Are we to expect fresh elections?
MICHAEL BURKE
Thursday, April 17, 2008
So Daryl Vaz is to vacate his seat because he had pledged allegiance to another country. As the Reverend Devon Dick has pointed out, the issue is not about dual citizenship but allegiance. I too am concerned about confusing statements made by media houses. My first reaction was that the seat should automatically have gone to Abe Dabdoub. My closer reading, however, is that the by-election is only fair.
In 1978, there was a by-election in Western St Andrew occasioned by the resignation of David Coore. Dudley Thompson was chosen as the People's National Party candidate. The Jamaica Labour Party was not contesting by-elections in keeping with their decision not to contest any until there was electoral reform. On the day of nomination several Independent candidates with the surname "Thompson" showed up to be nominated.
Many PNP fans who showed up at the nomination centre accused the nine or 10 Thompsons as being JLP supporters who were trying to cause confusion on the ballot paper so that Dudley Thompson would not win. And then "a fight bruk out". At that time the law did not allow for a postponement.
However, the then prime minister Michael Manley, acting in good faith, postponed the nomination proceedings when only one independent had been nominated, and Dudley Thompson was not. Many, including the Opposition JLP, argued that Manley had no legal right to do that.
As a new date was set and a whole different set of candidates were nominated, at the August 2, 1978 by-election the combined vote of all the independent candidates was less than 1,000 votes while Dudley Thompson received in excess of 7,000 votes.
But the man named Thompson, the only nominee at the original nomination filed an appeal that he should have been elected unopposed, as he was the only nominee. In the early part of 1980, the case was tried. The court ruled that the postponement was illegal and consequently no one was elected. But from memory, the Independent Mr Thompson was not awarded the seat. Dudley Thompson appealed and it was still pending at the time of the dissolution of the House in early October 1980 in preparation for the October 30, 1980 general election.
Why did the judge, in the case of the Independent Mr Thompson, not declare him the winner? One could argue that the nomination exercise was not completed and could not be after the mayhem started. At the time, however, I thought that the Independent Mr Thompson did have a case and should have been awarded the seat. And in similar fashion, Abe Dabdoub should have been awarded Western Portland as the only person duly nominated.
But the law allows for a by-election if one of the candidates dies between nomination day and election day. I believe the same law that applies for local government in such an instance applies for election to Parliament. Please recall that in the 2003 local government election, a JLP candidate in Portmore died between nomination and election days. There was a subsequent by-election, which the PNP won.
And if the law allows for a separate election if one of the candidates dies, then it should also allow for a separate election if one of two candidates did not qualify. It is not as if it was a case where only one candidate showed up, in which case the seat would be unopposed. As safe a PNP seat as South West St Andrew is for the PNP, the PNP boycotted the elections of 1983 and the lone nominee, the JLP's Christopher Rose, was elected.
In the general elections of 1989, Rose received 399 votes to 18,600-odd for Portia Simpson (now Simpson Miller). And even if 10,000 of that were bogus, Portia still won overwhelmingly just as she would have in 1983, had the PNP contested the election.
But where do we go from here? I doubt if Golding is going to wait for a ruling of the appeal court to call fresh elections. And he should win even more seats given the mood of the country and the recuperating state of the PNP, along with the fact that the PNP leadership question is not really settled yet.
True, no one wants a general election and the PNP is not clamouring for one, but what other options does Golding have? Even his present majority could be cause for sleepless nights wondering which three JLP MPs might cross the floor to the PNP. If the majority is decreased and he has good reason to believe that the JLP would win again with probably more seats, that might just be his course of action.
Of equal concern to me is the part played by director of elections Danville Walker in this matter. I can understand his notice that it is only a court of law that can decide if a candidate is qualified. But while in a role that is supposed to be independent, he gave some comments about Dabdoub that showed that he was unfairly taking sides. Walker has been efficient both as director of elections, and in managing the reconstruction after Hurricane Ivan. But when it comes to being director of elections, neutrality is far more important than efficiency.
ekrubm765@yahoo.com
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Are we to expect fresh elections?
MICHAEL BURKE
Thursday, April 17, 2008
So Daryl Vaz is to vacate his seat because he had pledged allegiance to another country. As the Reverend Devon Dick has pointed out, the issue is not about dual citizenship but allegiance. I too am concerned about confusing statements made by media houses. My first reaction was that the seat should automatically have gone to Abe Dabdoub. My closer reading, however, is that the by-election is only fair.
In 1978, there was a by-election in Western St Andrew occasioned by the resignation of David Coore. Dudley Thompson was chosen as the People's National Party candidate. The Jamaica Labour Party was not contesting by-elections in keeping with their decision not to contest any until there was electoral reform. On the day of nomination several Independent candidates with the surname "Thompson" showed up to be nominated.
Many PNP fans who showed up at the nomination centre accused the nine or 10 Thompsons as being JLP supporters who were trying to cause confusion on the ballot paper so that Dudley Thompson would not win. And then "a fight bruk out". At that time the law did not allow for a postponement.
However, the then prime minister Michael Manley, acting in good faith, postponed the nomination proceedings when only one independent had been nominated, and Dudley Thompson was not. Many, including the Opposition JLP, argued that Manley had no legal right to do that.
As a new date was set and a whole different set of candidates were nominated, at the August 2, 1978 by-election the combined vote of all the independent candidates was less than 1,000 votes while Dudley Thompson received in excess of 7,000 votes.
But the man named Thompson, the only nominee at the original nomination filed an appeal that he should have been elected unopposed, as he was the only nominee. In the early part of 1980, the case was tried. The court ruled that the postponement was illegal and consequently no one was elected. But from memory, the Independent Mr Thompson was not awarded the seat. Dudley Thompson appealed and it was still pending at the time of the dissolution of the House in early October 1980 in preparation for the October 30, 1980 general election.
Why did the judge, in the case of the Independent Mr Thompson, not declare him the winner? One could argue that the nomination exercise was not completed and could not be after the mayhem started. At the time, however, I thought that the Independent Mr Thompson did have a case and should have been awarded the seat. And in similar fashion, Abe Dabdoub should have been awarded Western Portland as the only person duly nominated.
But the law allows for a by-election if one of the candidates dies between nomination day and election day. I believe the same law that applies for local government in such an instance applies for election to Parliament. Please recall that in the 2003 local government election, a JLP candidate in Portmore died between nomination and election days. There was a subsequent by-election, which the PNP won.
And if the law allows for a separate election if one of the candidates dies, then it should also allow for a separate election if one of two candidates did not qualify. It is not as if it was a case where only one candidate showed up, in which case the seat would be unopposed. As safe a PNP seat as South West St Andrew is for the PNP, the PNP boycotted the elections of 1983 and the lone nominee, the JLP's Christopher Rose, was elected.
In the general elections of 1989, Rose received 399 votes to 18,600-odd for Portia Simpson (now Simpson Miller). And even if 10,000 of that were bogus, Portia still won overwhelmingly just as she would have in 1983, had the PNP contested the election.
But where do we go from here? I doubt if Golding is going to wait for a ruling of the appeal court to call fresh elections. And he should win even more seats given the mood of the country and the recuperating state of the PNP, along with the fact that the PNP leadership question is not really settled yet.
True, no one wants a general election and the PNP is not clamouring for one, but what other options does Golding have? Even his present majority could be cause for sleepless nights wondering which three JLP MPs might cross the floor to the PNP. If the majority is decreased and he has good reason to believe that the JLP would win again with probably more seats, that might just be his course of action.
Of equal concern to me is the part played by director of elections Danville Walker in this matter. I can understand his notice that it is only a court of law that can decide if a candidate is qualified. But while in a role that is supposed to be independent, he gave some comments about Dabdoub that showed that he was unfairly taking sides. Walker has been efficient both as director of elections, and in managing the reconstruction after Hurricane Ivan. But when it comes to being director of elections, neutrality is far more important than efficiency.
ekrubm765@yahoo.com
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