Tweet
Court rules on West Portland seat today
Friday, February 27, 2009
JAMAICA'S Court of Appeal will today rule if the West Portland seat should be decided by a by-election, as ruled by the chief justice, or be given to the losing Opposition candidate in the September 2007 general election.
The Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP's) Daryl Vaz, who won the seat in the 2007 polls, was last April disqualified following a suit brought by his opponent Abe Dabdoub of the People's National Party (PNP) that he was unfit to hold the office of MP by virtue of his allegiance to the United States.
Chief Justice Zaila McCalla ruled that Vaz be disqualified as the Jamaican Constitution does not permit a member of the legislature to hold dual citizenship, but ordered that a by-election be held to decide the fate of the seat.
Dabdoub, who received 6,033 votes to Vaz's 6,977 at the polls, had asked Justice McCalla to hand him the seat because of the notice he had circulated in the constituency informing of Vaz's status, but she instead ruled that a by-election be held.
Both men later appealed the decision and the appellate court reserved judgement following a short hearing in December.
Vaz was allowed to remain in the House of Representative due to a stay of execution of Justice McCalla's order pending the appeal.
Should the Court of Appeal rule that the seat be given to Dabdoub, Jamaica could, within weeks, head into fresh general elections as Prime Minister Bruce Golding, leader of the ruling JLP, made it clear last year that he would not allow anyone not elected by the people to sit in the House.
The governing JLP currently holds 32 seats in the 60-seat legislature and the Opposition PNP 28 seats, and should the Opposition's Dabdoub be given the seat, a two-seat majority could make it difficult for Government to pass bills, as the speaker, who presides over sittings of the House, is a Government MP and only has a casting vote.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/..._DABDOUB__.asp
Friday, February 27, 2009
JAMAICA'S Court of Appeal will today rule if the West Portland seat should be decided by a by-election, as ruled by the chief justice, or be given to the losing Opposition candidate in the September 2007 general election.
The Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP's) Daryl Vaz, who won the seat in the 2007 polls, was last April disqualified following a suit brought by his opponent Abe Dabdoub of the People's National Party (PNP) that he was unfit to hold the office of MP by virtue of his allegiance to the United States.
Chief Justice Zaila McCalla ruled that Vaz be disqualified as the Jamaican Constitution does not permit a member of the legislature to hold dual citizenship, but ordered that a by-election be held to decide the fate of the seat.
Dabdoub, who received 6,033 votes to Vaz's 6,977 at the polls, had asked Justice McCalla to hand him the seat because of the notice he had circulated in the constituency informing of Vaz's status, but she instead ruled that a by-election be held.
Both men later appealed the decision and the appellate court reserved judgement following a short hearing in December.
Vaz was allowed to remain in the House of Representative due to a stay of execution of Justice McCalla's order pending the appeal.
Should the Court of Appeal rule that the seat be given to Dabdoub, Jamaica could, within weeks, head into fresh general elections as Prime Minister Bruce Golding, leader of the ruling JLP, made it clear last year that he would not allow anyone not elected by the people to sit in the House.
The governing JLP currently holds 32 seats in the 60-seat legislature and the Opposition PNP 28 seats, and should the Opposition's Dabdoub be given the seat, a two-seat majority could make it difficult for Government to pass bills, as the speaker, who presides over sittings of the House, is a Government MP and only has a casting vote.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/..._DABDOUB__.asp
Comment