PNM moves to recover legal costs in UNC election-petition defeat

SEVEN years after an election court dismissed election petitions brought by the United National Congress (UNC), the process of assessing legal costs owed to the People’s National Movement (PNM) began this week in the High Court.

The petitions, filed in 2015 by the UNC, challenged the results of that year's general election in six constituencies, citing the Election and Boundaries Commission’s (EBC) decision to extend polling hours by an hour owing to heavy rain.

The UNC lost its challenges in both the High Court and the Court of Appeal, and orders were issued requiring its candidates to pay the legal costs of the PNM and EBC.

In a statement, the PNM said delays by the UNC had prolonged the cost-recovery process for years.

“The six-year delay of these matters has prevented the PNM from getting what is rightfully its own,” the statement read.

The PNM said although it filed its bills of costs in October 2018, the process of taxation – the court’s assessment of legal fees –only began this week.

At Wednesday’s hearing, before Registrar Kernika Adolphe, attorneys Gerald Ramdeen and Jayanti Lutchmedial-Ramdial represented the UNC Senior Counsel Ravi Nanga appeared for the PNM, alongside attorneys Ravi Heffes Doon and Alana Bissessar for the EBC.

Both the PNM and EBC objected to further delays, urging the court to proceed.

PNM chairman Stuart Young, SC, addressed the court, opposing any adjournment.

He argued that the delays were caused by the UNC, which had failed to file written objections to the legal costs as directed by a court order in July 2020. Young called further delays “unfair and unreasonable,” emphasising that the PNM had waited years to recover the costs incurred defending the petitions.

Adolphe ruled against adjourning, and initiated the taxation process.

The UNC’s petitions had argued against the EBC’s decision to extend polling hours on election day, which the commission said was necessary to accommodate voters affected by bad weather.