JLP forces second delay in Eastern Hanover

**Dr.Dudd** · 10-02-2007, 12:13 PM

Re: JLP forces second delay in Eastern Hanover

JLP legal move rocks East Hanover magisterial recount
Radio Jamaica News.Monday, 01 October 2007
Determined to block Resident Magistrate George Burton from ruling in the East Hanover magisterial recount, lawyers for the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) took out another motion Monday preventing the magistrate from declaring a winner of the seat.

Despite last Friday's Appeal Court ruling which rejected their claim, lawyers for the JLP went back to the Supreme Court Monday and obtained a temporary Stay, preventing Mr. Burton from declaring a winner of the East Hanover constituency.

Senior Puisne Judge Marva McIntosh, who has been in the middle of the legal tussle over the past few weeks, on Monday morning granted an order staying the declaration.

The stay has been granted until October 3 pending an application from attorneys representing the Jamaica Labour Party's Barrington Gray.

Starting Tuesday the lawyers will be applying to court for leave to go to the judicial review court to challenge several decisions made by Mr. Burton at the magisterial recount.

The Appeal Court ruled on Friday that there was no evidence to stop the Resident Magistrate from making his declaration.

The High Court also ruled that the magistrate should be allowed to complete the exercise and any challenge could be made to the Election Court.

But despite this ruling the JLP lawyers were back in court Monday morning seeking to block the RM from making his ruling.

In documents filed in the Supreme Court, the attorneys maintained that they want an order from the High Court directing the magistrate to count ballots which he rejected during the magisterial recount.

They claim the ballots were improperly rejected.

They are also seeking an order prohibiting the magistrate from issuing a declaration of the seat until the disputed ballots are included.

Lawyers for the Peoples National Party (PNP) have expressed outrage at the latest move and declared that they will oppose the application.

One senior attorney told RJR News that he is surprised at the latest move following the ruling of the Appeal Court.

He was also critical of the magistrate who he said has been dragging his feet in declaring the winner.

Mr. Gray was declared the winner of the seat by nine votes over the PNP's Dr. D.K. Duncan following the September 3 election.

However, it is widely expected that Dr. Duncan will be declared the winner following the magisterial recount.

**Dr.Dudd** · 10-02-2007, 12:18 PM

Re: JLP forces second delay in Eastern Hanover

Setbacks for DK
Constituted Authority, Supreme Court deliver double blow to former minister
Jamaica Observer,

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Duncan... wanted election declared void
FORMER People's National Party (PNP) Cabinet minister Dr D K Duncan yesterday suffered setbacks to his chances of returning to Parliament from both the Constituted Authority and the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court Judge Marva McIntosh made an about-turn by allowing lawyers for Duncan's Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) opponent, Barrington Gray, to apply to her to allow a Full Court hearing of their application to reverse the decision of Resident Magistrate George Burton to reject ballots understood to be torn by presiding officers.

Yesterday, it also emerged that Duncan was among five candidates who failed to convince the Constituted Authority to void polling in their constituencies.

The five candidates had lost in the September 3 general elections on the basis of the final counts.

The others were Patrick Roberts (PNP), West Central St Andrew; Joel Williams (JLP), South Western Clarendon; Joan Gordon-Webley (JLP), South Eastern St Andrew; and Sally Porteous (JLP), Central Manchester.

But while Duncan's failure to get the Authority to void the polling in Eastern Hanover may have been predictable, the decision of Justice McIntosh to grant a stay of the magisterial recount until tomorrow delayed his possible return to Gordon House today.

Lawyers for Gray, the former MP, are maintaining that RM Burton was "proceeding on an unlawful basis" when he accepted a number of ballots from some boxes, with the counterfoil torn off, on a particular day and rejected similar ballots on a next occasion.

The votes were previously counted by the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ), based on advice from the solicitor-general.
This resulted in Gray being awarded the seat by nine votes. The boxes are numbered 3, 35, 42a, 43, 71, 72 and 81.
The announcement of the stay came as the magistrate was about to declare a winner yesterday. The in-chambers hearing is slated to start today in the Supreme Court.

Yesterday, the Constituted Authority, which rules on applications to void polls, did not say to what extent the five candidates wanted the elections in their respective constituencies declared invalid. However, it said that "almost all" the applications, were filed under Section 37(c) of the Election Petitions Act which states:
"That a presiding officer has, under duress, signed ballots and that the number of ballots so signed is sufficient to cast doubt on the majority of votes counted for the candidate declared elected."
The Authority rejected outright the applications from both Duncan and Roberts because they failed to furnish the required affidavits on which a decision to proceed or not would have been based.
However, the Authority said that they caused investigations, including statements from witnesses, to be conducted in the other three cases. But those were also turned down, eventually, for various reasons.

In terms of South Western Clarendon, the Authority said that Williams' allegations were "largely unsubstantiated".
For South Eastern St Andrew, the verdict was that the irregularities complained of "did not rise to such a level as would lead to a substantial distortion or subversion of the process of free and fair election".

And in relation to Central Manchester, the Authority said that after "exhaustive investigations" into Porteous' allegations, they found that the incidents of irregularities "did not rise to such a level as would lead to a substantial distortion or subversion of the process of free and fair elections in the constituency".

"Accordingly, the Constituted Authority did not, whether on its own motion or at the request of any of the candidates, determine that any application ought to be made to the Election Court with a view to voiding the taking of polls within a polling station, polling division or constituency."

The Authority was comprised of Justice Rance Langrin, chairman; Dennis Lalor; Professor Errol Miller; Dr Herbert Thompson; Dorothy Pine-McLarty; and Justice Clarence Walker.

**evanovitch** · 10-02-2007, 08:37 PM

Re: JLP forces second delay in Eastern Hanover

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dr.Dudd</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Supreme Court forces second delay in Eastern Hanover
Gleaner published: Tuesday | October 2, 2007

Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

( L - R ) GRAY, DUNCAN

The re-examination of the magisterial recount for the Eastern Hanover constituency which was scheduled to continue yesterday, has been halted by a Supreme Court order.

It was the second time within a week that Resident Magistrate George Burton was prevented from continuing the process.

Senior Puisne Judge Marva McIntosh granted a stay yesterday of the re-examination to allow Jamaica Labour Party candidate Barrington Gray to make an application today for leave to go to the Judicial Review Court.

The RM had ruled that he was not going to include in his final tally of votes, the ballots on which the presiding officer's signature was absent. Gray's lawyers are seeking to go to the Judicial Review Court to get orders to compel the RM to include those ballots.

Improperly rejected

Gray, who had won the final count by nine votes, is contending that the RM improperly rejected 84 ballots to the detriment of the candidates. He said 58 of those votes were for him, while 26 were for Dr. D.K. Duncan, the People's National Party candidate.

After the magisterial recount last week Monday, Dr. Duncan was reported to be the winner by 12 votes. Last week Tuesday, Gray brought an application in the Supreme Court to stop the re-examination but Mrs. Justice Marva McIntosh said she did not have the jurisdiction to hear it.

Gray took the matter to the Court of Appeal on Tuesday and got a stay until the appeal was heard on Thursday. The Court of Appeal upheld the judge's ruling.

Attorney-at-law Harold Brady, who is representing Gray, had asked for an adjournment to appeal the outcome after the RM had completed the recount. The RM denied his application and Mr. Brady then asked for a re-examination of the 85 boxes in the constituency.

Mr. Brady made the application for a re-examination after the RM rejected a number of ballots, which were reportedly improperly torn and the presiding officer's signature missing.

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so why u had to change di GLeaner heading from Supreme Court to JLP?

**Dyoll_73** · 10-02-2007, 09:36 PM

Re: JLP forces second delay in Eastern Hanover

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">so why u had to change di GLeaner heading from Supreme Court to JLP? </div></div>

You know why. Dr Goebells employs this tactic from time to time.

**evanovitch** · 10-02-2007, 09:52 PM

Re: JLP forces second delay in Eastern Hanover

u know seh it really surprise mi fi see how some in di diaspora really naw leggo weh dem sometimes seh a mash up yaad...fi real..we really eena prekkae fi real...

**Dr.Dudd** · 10-03-2007, 04:14 PM

JLP’s application for judicial review for East Hanover quash

JLP’s application for judicial review for East Hanover quashed
Wednesday, 03 October 2007
High court judge Justice Marva McIntosh has refused an application from lawyers representing the Jamaica Labour Party's Barrington Gray, who were seeking leave to go to the judicial review court to challenge a ruling by the Resident Magistrate who counted the votes during a magisterial recount for East Hanover.

Justice McIntosh handed down her ruling on Wednesday afternoon.

This clears the way for Resident Magistrate George Burtron, who conducted the magisterial recount, to declare the winner of the seat.

The hearing is taking place in the Supreme Court in Downtown Kingston.

Lawyers for JLP candidate Barrington Gray have been trying to get the Supreme Court to grant them leave to go to the judicial review court.

The lawyers are challenging several decisions made by Resident Magistrate George Burtron during the magisterial recount.

On Monday, Mr. Gray's attorneys obtained a Temporary Stay, preventing Mr. Burtron from declaring a winner.

The judge had earlier granted an order staying the declaration.

The stay was granted until Wednesday pending the application from the attorneys.

In documents filed in the Supreme Court, Mr. Gray's attorneys said they wanted an order from the High Court directing the magistrate to count ballots which he rejected during the magisterial recount.

They claim the ballots were improperly rejected.

They are also seeking an order prohibiting the magistrate from issuing a declaration of the seat until the disputed ballots are included.

**Dr.Dudd** · 10-05-2007, 10:16 PM

East Hanover battle heads back to Appeal Court

East Hanover battle heads back to Appeal Court
Friday, 05 October 2007
The battle over the East Hanover seat is going back to the Appeal Court.

Lawyers representing the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Barrington Gray have filed an appeal against Wednesday's ruling by Mrs. Justice Marva McIntosh, who rejected their application to block the magisterial recount.

The Appeal Court is to hear the matter on October 16.

As a result the High Court granted a Stay, effectively blocking Resident Magistrate George Burton from making a declaration in the magisterial recount until the appeal is heard.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court rejected a motion by the Jamaica Labour Party to stop the magisterial recount in the hotly contested East Hanover seat.

Mrs. Justice McIntosh dismissed the application in which the JLP which was seeking leave to take its grouse to the Judicial Review Court.

The JLP claimed Mr. Burton has been improperly rejecting ballots in the recount.

Mr. Gray was declared the winner of the seat by nine votes over the People's National Party's Dr. D.K. Duncan in the final count following the September 3 general election.

**Hush Darlin** · 10-06-2007, 12:45 AM

Re: East Hanover battle heads back to Appeal Court

so wha mek dem noh have a by-election and be done wid it
ie noh wudda cheaper

**Dr.Dudd** · 10-06-2007, 09:17 AM

Re: East Hanover battle heads back to Appeal Court

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SweetSsop</div><div class="ubbcode-body">so wha mek dem noh have a by-election and be done wid it
ie noh wudda cheaper </div></div>
You can't have bye election or else everytime there is a common problem as this there would be a call for one.
There are laws to deal with it,and they just have to go with the laws that exist to deal with it.

JLP forces second delay in Eastern Hanover

JLP forces second delay in Eastern Hanover

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