The general election is just weeks away and tonight things have gotten a lot more interesting and a lot less clear for the future of the UDP.
That's after High Court Justice Tawanda Hondora today denied two applications made by Shyne Barrow's Jamaican Attorney Christopher Malcom.
He asked the court to find Tracy Panton guilty of contempt of court - with a possible prison sentence of 3 months. And he also asked the court to basically issue a gag order against Panton and others - preventing them from talking about her as leader of the UDP, or even a member of the UDP.
A lot of this hinged upon the interpretation of a declaration he made in November, when he returned the headquarters to the control of the Central Executive lead by Shyne Barrow. He said things should go back to the "status quo ante" - meaning back to the way they were before.
Shyne Barrow's team interpreted that to mean back to before when Shyne Barrow was undisputed leader. And also to before Tracy Panton's convention - in which delegates voted to remove him.
Well, today the judge made it clear that he was only referring to the previous state of the headquarters.
For Panton's side that was a huge relief - and it also meant the court couldn't gag her. She discussed it in a zoom interview along with her chairman:
Tracy Panton, TP UDP - Interim Leader
"As you say, it's a foot off my neck. I think it is really important that the court saw in its wisdom and by law, legally, that we have a freedom of expression. We have a constitutional right to have a voice in our country's affairs and our political affairs would not be impeded."
Jules Vasquez
"It will be a mess going forward because we know that the other side will not relent, will not relinquish their claim to hold the sole legitimate leadership of the UDP. How will you all navigate through this whole mess that awaits where there will be a multiplicity of candidates or a plurality of candidates in multiple constituencies where more than one is claiming to be members of the UDP?"
Sheena Pitts, Chairlady TP - UDP
"Barrow has been maintaining that the court made a determination in his favor. And that is what was used to proceed as he was doing. And today, definitively, the court said, no, that is not what I ordered."
"So the fact that whenever he heard the Honourable Panton refer to herself as interim party leader and whether or not that hurt his little feelings, it does not go as far to mean that the court will be called upon to imprison or gag persons because his feelings were so hurt."
Tracy Panton, TP UDP - Interim Leader
"Democracy, and I've said this before, and I reiterate, is messy. And we don't expect that Shyne is going to play fair. He's not going to play by the rules. He's going to put his best spin on this certainly ruling that was not in his favor."
"But neither are we going to go anywhere. We are resolute in our determination to defend democracy within the party and to defend the democracy of this country. We will not yield. We will not buckle and we are going to fight till the last vote is counted on March the 12th."
So, now that Panton can call herself UDP Leader without fear of a lawsuit, she says she is also going for the color red on the ballot beside her candidates. We asked about the path ahead which is fright with difficulty:
Tracy Panton, TP UDP - Interim Leader
"We have requested that we be given the red because we contend and we continue to maintain that we are members of the United Democratic Party. So that is all official request to the election and boundaries commission."
"There is one United Democratic Party that has 31 candidates vying for election in on March 12th of this year. As far as I am concerned, there is one UDP. I don't know what determination for consideration would be taken by the election and boundaries commission."
"The global representation of People's Act give that discretion to the election and boundaries commission. However, I am certain that they will have to take into account the judgment from today's hearing where the preferred position of Shyne Barrow has not been entertained."
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