Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
Duncan and Gray
Resident Magistrate George Burton has been given the green light by the Court of Appeal to tally the votes and declare the winner for the Eastern Hanover constituency.
It is expected that by next week Tuesday the resident magistrate will complete the task and from all indications it appears that the seat will go to Dr. D. K. Duncan, the People's National Party candidate.
Yesterday, the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal brought by Jamaica Labour Party candidate, Barrington Gray, who was seeking to go to the Judicial Review Court to compel the RM to count certain ballots he had rejected. Gray claimed that 58 of the rejected votes were for him, while 26 were for Dr. Duncan.
It was the court's ruling that there was no real chance of success if they had allowed the appeal for Gray to go to the Judicial Review Court.
Dr. Duncan said yesterday that he was happy with the outcome of the court's ruling.
"I applaud the patience of the three courts in Jamaica, namely the Resident Magistrate's Court, the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal for listening to the submissions of all the parties involved and have given the people of Eastern Hanover a chance to be represented as early as possible.
disappointed with outcome
Gray, who was disappointed with the outcome, said people were going to be disenfranchised. He said further that the people's votes should not be thrown away because of the failure of an election officer.The court, in handing down its decision, has made it clear that Gray can take his case to the Election Court if he is not satisfied with the outcome after the resident magistrate has declared the winner.
Gray won the final count by nine votes and a magisterial recount was ordered. After the magisterial recount, Dr. Duncan was reported to be the winner by 12 votes and Gray had requested a re-examination of the recount. While the re-examination was
taking place, Gray took the matter to the Supreme Court.
Senior Puisne Judge Marva McIntosh turned down Gray's application for leave to go to the Judicial Review Court. He was seeking an order to compel the RM to count ballots which he had rejected on the grounds that the presiding officer's signature was missing, the constituency was absent as well as the polling division number and the date.
Gray appealed against Mrs. Justice McIntosh's ruling and the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal.In dismissing the appeal the court upheld legal arguments made by Dr. Duncan's lawyers, Abe Dabdoub, Gayle Nelson and Winston Taylor that Gray had brought a similar application last month in the Supreme Court.
The Court of Appeal said the Supreme Court had rejected the application and Gray had taken the issue to the Court of Appeal which last month dismissed the appeal. The Court said that the court rules were against the renewal of an application which was essentially the same.
Court of Appeal Judges Algernon Smith, Karl Harrison and Gloria Smith said it was clear that the RM did not reject the ballots merely because the presiding officer's signature was missing.
barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com