Gray (left) and Duncan.

The magisterial recount in the Hanover Eastern constituency was stopped yesterday following an order granted by Court of Appeal Judge Hazel Harris. A hearing has been set for October 16 in the Court of Appeal.

The court is to determine if Senior Puisne Judge Marva McIntosh erred in a ruling she made on Wednesday. The judge had refused to grant leave for Jamaica Labour Party candidate Barrington Gray to go to the Judicial Review Court for an order to compel Resident Magistrate George Burton to count a number of rejected ballots.

Final tally issue

The RM had ruled that he was not going to include in his final tally of votes, the ballots on which the presiding officer's signature was missing.

Justice McIntosh had ruled that if she granted leave then she would be interfering with the process before the RM. She held that the RM was not acting outside the powers conferred on him by the Representation of the People Act.

The issue of the rejected ballots first came before the Supreme Court last month, but Mrs. Justice McIntosh held that she did not have the jurisdiction to hear the matter. The Court of Appeal upheld her ruling.

Gray, who had won the final count by nine votes is contending that the RM improperly rejected 84 ballots to the detriment of the candidates. He said 58 of those votes were for him while 26 were for Dr. D. K. Duncan, the People's National Party candidate. After the magisterial recount last week Monday, Dr. Duncan was reported to be the winner by 12 votes.

Attorney-at-law Harold Brady who is representing Gray made an application for a re-examination of all the ballots in the 85 boxes for the constituency after the RM rejected a number of ballots. The RM was in the process of recounting the ballots when the matter was taken to the Supreme Court.