Will recall petition of UDP Party Leader continue? Petition leaders challenge basis of rejection

By Aaron Humes: The team challenging the United Democratic Party’s leader Moses “Shyne” Barrow does not appear ready to give up on its “Recall Project” and have “lawyered up” for a potential court challenge.

Party vice-chairman Alberto August reiterated that they will not “bad-mouth” anyone, but citing the basis of the party’s constitution, he stated that “there are some people in our party who believe that [Barrow] lacks some of these qualities necessary to transform the United Democratic Party into a viable Opposition, because we all know, as is evident by the current state of affairs in our country, a Government abuses the people in the face of a weak Opposition,” meaning that the Constitution recognizes that the party leader must be “leading, guiding, motivating and securing the adequate financial resources for the party,” and must be above reproach – making his position the only one that can be recalled if its holder is not up to scratch.

August cited party chairman Michael Peyrefitte’s statement on Monday that he and his team would not, he believed, “present fake, bogus, or forged signatures for verification,” and he maintained that they had not: only nine of the presented signatures appear to be of legitimate concern. As Peyrefitte cited, four signatures were of persons who he says are alternate delegates, therefore unauthorized to sign the petition; three signatures were from persons who did not appear on the list of delegates; and two persons who had resigned from the party and were not eligible. Even if they concede on these nine, August said, there is still enough to move forward.

As for the 43 “retracted” signatures disqualified from the petition, attorney Norman Rodriguez explained that the process of handling a petition within the UDP is the same as with a general election when voting closes. After the delegates sign and the petition is delivered, the voting closes as it were, and counting begins: “The chairman counts the ballots and he declares the results. He must count the ballots in the exact way that he receives them and he must also declare the results based on the way he counted those ballots. Delegates do not have the opportunity to cancel or retract any of those petitions once they are delivered to the chairman – it is like a normal election process. Once you go to the polls and vote, and the polls close at six or seven, you cannot go back to the returning officer and [say], “I want to take back my ballot.”

And August denied that the suddenly recalcitrant petitioners did not know what they were signing, stating that the petition paper was accompanied by two pages of information, listing six reasons why the recall was being pursued, though no reason is required. He argues that any change of heart may happen at the recall convention: “…they will have an opportunity to change their mind if they want to, but this is not the process for that.” He added that the petitioners have the tougher job of getting two-thirds of delegates to agree at the convention and that there are no prescribed forms under the constitution of the party for the petition – or indeed for the convention.
Rodriguez added that while the party constitution appears to be silent on the matter of retraction, “that does not give any person the right to implement his own procedure or step, and a step that can become controversial because it does not conform to the normal way of voting…the fact that it doesn’t say that to retract is outlawed, retracting is not a process or step that is allowed in the way they are trying to implement…”

August noted that Peyrefitte has refused to seek the advice of the legal advisor of the party, Estevan Perrera, stating that his opinion would be just another. The opinion would be on the verification of the signatures: he cited that the two persons alleged to have resigned had not signed their resignation letters, while another petitioner, the mother of a former area representative and Minister of Government, was disqualified because she signed under an alternate name.

And August conceded that he had not expected this kind of behaviour from his party colleagues, but he said they had tried to be “strategic” in obtaining signatures from those who he said were “confirmed” to support a recall and both sides would have had a chance to campaign. But he insists that in his view the recall has been triggered, and now a vote needs to take place.

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