PNM: PM to decide on Lengua/Indian Walk by-election date

It is for the Prime Minister to set a date for a fresh election for the local government district of Lengua/Indian Walk, says Rural and Local Government Minister Faris Al-Rawi.

“The timing of an election is a matter for the Honourable Prime Minister,” Al-Rawi said in a statement in his capacity as public relations officer of the People’s National Movement.

He was commenting on Justice Marissa Robertson’s dismissal of the United National Congress’s election petition for that district.

Al-Rawi said the PNM acknowledged the court’s ruling and “welcomed” the development.

“The PNM abides by the court process and due process…Our country has a well-established and unblemished history of conducting elections without negative events and we are confident that under this government this precedent shall prevail.

“The PNM remains committed to upholding the democratic processes and ensuring the fair and transparent conduct of elections across our beloved nation.”

The UNC filed the petition on August 21, 2023, after two recounts which led to the PNM’s candidate, Autly Granthume, being announced the winner over the UNC’s Nicole Gopaul-Jones on election night, August 14, 2023.

Granthume initially received 1,430 votes compared to Gopaul-Jones’s 1,425. At the end of the first recount, each candidate received 1,428 votes.

However, the returning officer rejected a special ballot in favour of Gopaul-Jones – which would have broken the tie.

Gopaul-Jones challenged the rejection of the ballot, insisting it was valid and ought to have been counted, which would have led to her being elected and returned as the councillor for the district.

The EBC maintained its reasoning for rejecting the ballot as required by election rules under the Representation of the People Act.

It was the EBC’s position that Gopaul-Jones did not secure the majority of votes after the preliminary count and the two recounts, nor was any vote wrongly rejected. It also argued that the special ballot was correctly rejected, since it did not have the returning officer’s initials, as required by the election rules.

In her ruling, Robertson said the EBC “acted correctly” in rejecting a disputed special ballot.

She said the election rules emphasised the importance of a returning officer’s initials to verify that a ballot was legitimately issued for an election.

“Accordingly, the disputed ballot cannot be counted in the determination of the results for the local government elections,” she held as she dismissed the petition.

The UNC is likely to appeal the decision.

As with all election petitions, if the petitioner is unsatisfied with the High Court’s decision, it can appeal only to the Court of Appeal, as the Privy Council has no jurisdiction over such electoral litigation.

Until a new election is called for the district, the incumbent chairman of the Princes Town Regional Corporation remains in office.

Regardless of who wins Lengua/Indian Walk, 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 2023 local government elections.