THE CONSTITUENTS of North East St Catherine will go to the polls on June 16 to elect a member of parliament (MP).

Supreme Court Judge Horace Marsh declared the seat vacant when the lawyers representing the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Gregory Mair and the People's National Party's (PNP) Phyllis Mitchell appeared in court yesterday.

Mair won the September 2007 general election by 959 votes over Mitchell. He had polled 6,064 votes to Mitchell's 5,105 to be elected member of parliament on the governing side.

However, Mitchell entered an election petition claiming Mair was a Venezuelan citizen and therefore not eligible to sit in the House of Representatives under the Constitution.

Judgment for Mitchell

In court yesterday, judgment was entered for Mitchell in terms of an order which was drafted and consented to by lawyers representing the parties.

The order was based on Mair's admission of facts in court documents filed yesterday that on nomination day, August 7, 2007, he was a citizen of the Republic of Venezuela.

Mair also admitted that on nomination day, he was the holder of a Venezuelan passport. He admitted that he applied for the passport and travelled on it from time to time.

The court order states that Mair was not qualified to be nominated as a candidate for the constituency and was not duly elected as MP.

Attorney-at-law Abe Dabdoub, who represented Mitchell, told The Gleaner that based on Mair's admissions, Mitchell applied for judgment for the seat to be declared vacant.

Mair to pay legal costs

Mair is to pay Mitchell's legal costs of $3 million plus general consumption tax.

Meanwhile, Dabdoub said Mitchell, who had filed the election petition, did not seek to be returned as the duly elected candidate because of the Court of Appeal's ruling in March in the case of PNP candidate Abe Dabdoub and Member of Parliament Daryl Vaz.

The Court of Appeal upheld the ruling by Chief Justice Zaila McCalla that because Vaz was a United States citizen when he was nominated and elected as MP, he had pledged allegiance to a foreign power and was not entitled under the Constitution of Jamaica to be an MP.

The chief justice ordered a by-election for the West Portland constituency.

Nomination next Friday

Ransford Braham and Daniella Gentles represented Mair in the proceedings.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced during a press conference held at the JLP's Belmont Road office that nomi-nation day would be next Friday, May 29.

"I think it is important for us not to allow the seat to be vacant and for the people to be deprived of representation beyond the shortest possible time," Golding said.

Vaz renounced his US citizenship and contested the by-election against the PNP's Kenneth Rowe. Vaz won the by-election by more than 2,000 votes.

Mair has said that he has also renounced his foreign citizenship so that he would be qualified to be re-elected to the House.

Mair said he renounced his Venezuelan citizenship in August 2007 and has no real interest in the South American country.

"I have not travelled to Venezuela since 1994 as my grandparents (maternal) have passed on and I no longer have any major interest in visiting that country. All my possessions are in Jamaica; my wife and my children live with me here in Jamaica and, God's willing, Jamaica being where my life commenced, it will also be where it ends," Mair said.

Meanwhile, Golding has expressed confidence that Mair will be returned as member of parliament.

"We intend and we commit ourselves to a peaceful campaign. We intent to take our message to the people and we are confident that we will continue to enjoy the confidence and the support of the people of North East St Catherine," Golding said.

Mair too was confident he would win and is focusing his attention on a landslide victory.

"My team is looking beyond victory. We are now challenged by the margin of Daryl and we are going to try very hard to increase it," said Mair, who also added that polls conducted in the constituency show him miles ahead of Granville Valentine, the most likely candidate to contest for the PNP.

Vaz had increased his 944 margin in 2007 to 2,289 in the March by-election. Mair said he has no doubt his victory will be "massive".

Up to press time last night, the PNP had not settled on a candidate to contest the election. However, well-placed party sources said National Workers' Union island supervisor Granville Valentine would be the party's standard bearer.