ONE VOTE WINS ALL – UNC takes EBC to court over Lengua/Indian Walk tie

The fallout over the electoral district of Lengua/Indian Walk continues as the UNC has decided to go to court over one ballot.

The United National congress filed an election petition in the High Court on Monday, saying it was urgent and required “immediate determination.”

In the August 14 local government elections, Lengua/Indian Walk was initially declared for the People’s National Movement (PNM). A recount was requested and conducted by the returning officer between August 15 and 16, and  resulted in the PNM and UNC candidates, the Rev Autly Granthume and Nicole Gopaul respectively, being tied with 1,428 votes each. A second recount started on August 17, with the same result.

However, during the initial count and the two recounts, a particular ballot, which was a vote for the UNC, was rejected on the ground that it had not been initialled by the presiding officer, nor did it have a polling station number.

In a statement on Tuesday, UNC Political Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the ballot was rejected “despite the objections of the UNC representatives present” at the count.

“At the recount, a ballot which with a clear vote for the UNC candidate but which did not have the presiding officer’s initials came up again for scrutiny. That ballot was again rejected by the returning officer, despite the UNC’s objections.”

She added that the EBC’s officials not marking the ballot as “questioned” meant the UNC candidate could not request a check of the results and a final determination of that questioned ballot.

By statement from the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) dated August 19 and by letter dated August 20, the election for the electoral district of Lengua/Indian Walk was declared void.

It said, “Rule 101 (15) of the Election Rules state that: Where the recount results in an equality of votes between or among the candidates obtaining the most votes the chief election officer shall so certify to the Returning Officer who shall declare the election void and a new election shall, as soon as possible, be held in accordance with these rules.”

Attorney Vishaal Siewsaran of Freedom Law Chambers, San Fernando, filed for the petitioner, Denecia Gopaul-Jones of Moruga.

He noted that Section 108 (2) of the Representation of the People Act says: Subject to this section, a petition questioning an election or return shall be presented within eight days after the return has been made of the member to whose election the petition relates.”

As a result, he said the petition had to be determined before a fresh election could be held for Lengua/Indian Walk. And if the petition succeeded, there would be no need for a fresh election that may unnecessarily waste time, human resources, financial resources and energy.

“The issues raised in this petition (do) not simply affect the Petitioner but also affected the entire electorate of the Electoral District of Lengua/Indian Walk. The electorate of the said Electoral District are entitled to know whether a clear winner has emerged in accordance with the will of the electorate, from the election with a successful candidate with the most votes who should be elected as the local government representative for the said Electoral District.

“The people who live in the Electoral District of Lengua/Indian Walk will be prejudiced by any delay in this matter as they will be without a representative on Council of the Municipal Corporation and without representation.”

Attached were affidavits of Gopaul-Jones, election agent Alvin Lutchman, counting agent Ashley Badal, and UNC candidate Nicole Gopaul.

In a letter to the UNC general secretary, Peter Kanhai, on August 20, EBC chief election officer Fern Narcis-Scope said in addition to having no initials, the ballot had no polling station number.

“At that point in time none of the parties had any objections to the ballot being rejected and the ballot box for that polling station was sealed and the count continued. No party representative requested that the returning officer write the letter ‘Q’ followed by his initials on the back of the ballot pursuant to Election Rule 101 (7).”

She said it was only at the end of the recount, when it was clear for whom the person had voted, that UNC representative Ashley Badal suggested the rejected ballot be counted. Also, during the second recount, UNC representative Alvin Lutchman said it should not be rejected.

“There is no room under the Election Rules to now treat the ballot as a questioned ballot within the meaning of the Election Rules,” she said.

In a letter to Kanhai the previous day, she outlined some of the pertinent election rules, including 97(5) which says: "In counting the ballots the presiding officer shall, whenever his decision on a ballot is questioned, record the fact by writing the letter 'Q' at the back of the ballot and appending his initials.

Election Rule 101(7) says: "Where a candidate or his agent disagrees with the returning officer with regards any ballot, the returning officer shall write the letter 'Q' followed by his initials on the back of the ballot."

Narcis-Scope said, “My investigations reveal that at the Polling Station the presiding officer rejected the ballot as it did not bear her initials and her decision was not questioned by any candidate or his agent. Consequently, the letter ‘Q’ was not written on the back of the ballot paper and the presiding officer’s initials were not appended.”

In a previous interview with Newsday, Granthume accepted the tie and said a fresh election would be the best solution to resolving it, as another election would “allow the people to speak.”

In her affidavit, Gopaul said she believed the disputed ballot was a valid vote in her favour which would make her the candidate with the highest number of votes cast and she should be declared the winner.

Regardless of who wins Lengua/Indian Walk in a possible by-election, the Princes Town Regional Corporation would remain in the group of seven corporations retained by the UNC and there would still be a seven-seven electoral tie between the PNM and UNC coming out of the August 14 local government elections.

However, if the PNM won, it would have given the party its first presence on the Princes Town Regional Corporation since Godfrey Lee Sing was the councillor for Moruga from 1996-1999.