Questionable Conduct: The Jamaican Political Reality

Introduction A massive amount of time and resources have been devoted to the issue of the course to be properly taken once a victorious electoral candidate has been found to be "disqualified" under S. 40 of the Constitution of Jamaica. Simply put, the crux of the matter is whether the second place candidate should, without more, be accorded the seat by the court; or that the said election be deemed null and void and a by-election ordered to decide the people's representative. This matter consumed inordinate amounts of energy - judicial and otherwise - due primarily to the silence of the Constitution on what recourse should be adopted in such circumstance. A cardinal tenet of democratic government is that the people must decide their representatives and not a select grouping - no matter their qualification or status. The Constitution of Jamaica fully recognized this imperative even though it expressly delegates the determination of questions as to membership of either Ho...

Abraham Dabdoub's appeal against the Chief Justice's ruling can be divided into two overlapping and intertwined phases: That the Chief Justice erred in law by failing to award the seat to the only duly nominated candidate on Nomination Day, August 7, 2007 in the constituency of West Portland; and That the Chief Justice erred in law by failing to recognize and properly apply the distinction between " status " and " conduct " in coming to her decision on disqualification based on dual citizenship. Numerous cases on votes being declared to be "thrown away" and the next candidate being duly seated by the court are cited. The detailed submissions are set out below: Publish at Scribd or explore others: Law

The arguments are in; they now await judgement of the Court of Appeal - the final arbiter in matters involving the Election Petition Act. The judgement of the Court of Appeal will be decisive as it will affect the fate of a number of the sitting members of the House of Representatives as well as those appointed to the Senate . The most profound effect could be the calling of a series of by-elections or a general election - depending on the ruling of the court. The judgement is expected in early 2009 - in excess of 1 1/2 years since the new Parliament was convened. That cannot be a satisfactory situation where the very composition of the said Parliament is being questioned. The matters in issue involve the interpretation of provisions of the Constitution of Jamaica - ostensibly the supreme court of the land. Dependent on the nature of the ruling, it could be inferred that there has been either a conspiracy to subvert the constitution or a sacrifice of the constitution on the altar of p...

There has been a lot of public debate on the pros and cons of the Prime Minister calling a general election to solve the dual citizenship calamity in which the Government is now embroiled. The circumstances are: Ø Members on both sides of the aisle in the House of Parliament are said to be in possession of dual citizenship – particular valid US passports and have travelled on such since Nomination Day. Ø A number of election petitions regarding the qualification/disqualification of successful candidates are pending in the courts Ø Some Members of the House have taken steps in the revocation process; some have remained silent, hoping that their dual citizenship status cannot be proved via evidence admissible in a court of law. The Prime Minister faces a political dilemma. Ø Does he wait until the court actions have been exhausted? Ø Does he enquire into the citizenship status of all JLP Members of Parliament? Ø Does he play for time by calling a...