Court strikes out PG municipal election petition

Published by BBNTEAM at August 9, 2024

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Posted: Friday, August 9, 2024. 1:01 pm CST.

By Aaron Humes: The United Democratic Party (UDP) faced defeat once again as the High Court struck out mayoral candidate Franklin “Kranka” Polonio’s petition challenging the results of the March 6 municipal election in Punta Gorda Town.

The respondents in the matter were People’s United Party (PUP) candidate, now Mayor, Carlos “Obeah” Galvez, and Chief Elections and Boundaries Officer Josephine Tamai. In response, Tamai applied to strike out the petition, stating that it was an abuse of process and there was no reasonable cause to file an election petition.

The Chief Elections Officer argued that the petition was brought under incorrect laws and procedures and that it was inconsistent with the prescribed form of an election petition because Polonio failed to sign the very petition he filed. Tamai further contended that the petition was not supported by an affidavit as is mandated and that it was filed 59 days after the election, as opposed to the ten days mandated.

Polonio, for his part, argued that the ballots were counted a third time; he was exhausted and did not realize he had signed the overall statement of the polls. He further contended that while he was informed certain ballots were void, neither he nor his agent witnessed the placement of questionable ballots as a separate batch.

Regarding the court’s decision, Mayor Carlos “Obeah” Galvez stated that his opponents behaved with desperation: “I believe that was a clear initial act of desperation. When we started counting polling area 112A and those two boxes were counted, we had already garnered close to eighty, ninety votes ahead of my opponents. So, when all this saying about it is illegal and we have stolen the election, that is misleading information, totally misleading. I must truly say that I am sincerely happy. I know there is a God above and in everything you do you put God first.”

He continued, “Of course, you need to be guided, and I want to applaud and say thanks to the attorney general and all those who have played a great role in ensuring that this claim by the UDP, the desperation claim to want to recall for counting, this is nonsense.”

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