The case of alleged election fraud in Cayo North took a sharp turn today when the defence challenged the court's authority to even hear the matter after the fourth of the month. They turned to the Representation of the People Act which says that the court must complete its determination of the voters list before the fifth of every month.
And because it has passed that date, the defense argued that the Magistrate had breached the constitutional rights of the 101 voters.
With that, the magistrate referred the matter to the High Court for determination.
So, despite visits to the addresses with a suspicious number of voters, no determination was made in the lower Court.
The lead claimant, Omar Figueroa explained more:
Omar Figueroa, Standard Bearer, UDP Cayo North
"No determination was made as to the status of the 101 names to whom we had filed objections. An argument was presented in court that going beyond the October 4th deadline, which is stipulated in the law, really violated the constitutional rights of the 101 electors to whom we had objected."
"So what decision was made here today is that the magistrate court, the argument was that the magistrate court did not have the legal authority to go beyond that October 4th deadline. So the case is moved on to the higher court so that the higher court can make a determination as to whether the magistrate has that authority or not."
"We remain hopeful and we remain confident that our position is robust, that we have the evidence that makes our objections valid. And so for now, it moves on to the higher court. Attorneys for both sides will be making their presentations at that level and then we await the decision of the higher courts."
According to their attorney, Jackie Willoughby, the objection to the transfers still stands until the determination is made, and the 101 names remain in limbo.
However, attorney for the defense, Richard "Dickie" Bradley contradicted that by saying that they remain on the Cayo North list until a court order quashing the Magistrate's decision or if it is returned to be continued. In that case, they would appeal. Bradley is joined on the defence team by Leeroy Banner and Marcel Cardona.
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