Director of Elections Glasspole Brown - file photo
.png)
Glasspole Brown
Director of Elections Glasspole Brown is arguing for an amendment to the section of the Representation of the People Act which speaks to the authority of a Returning Officer if there is a tie on a final count for a seat.
Mr. Brown wants it to state clearly the options of the Returning Officer for casting a ballot.
The issue has arisen following Saturday's recount in Westmoreland Eastern when the Jamaica Labour Party and People's National Party candidates scored a tie.
The returning officer in casting a ballot, picked the People's National Party's Luther Buchanan from a blind draw on Sunday.
Attorney General Marlene Malahoo Forte has disagreed with the method used by the Returning Officer to select the winning candidate.
Speaking Monday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106, the Director of Elections stated that the Returning Officer chose the method for casting his ballot, as the Representation of the People Act did not define the process.
"All it does though is give him the authority to do so and he must guide himself in terms of the process that he will use. He can either assess it based on a number of factors and he can use whatever methods he deems fit to use; and in this case, in Eastern Westmoreland, he decided draw from the hat, well, proverbial hat - it's a box. Actually, it was placed in the ballot box and then he blindly selected a person. So he used that as a guide for him to make that decision, which is his right to do so," he explained.
Mr. Brown suggested the Representation of the People Act should be amended to take some of the burden off the returning officer or make the law more clear in terms of the process to be followed.
comments powered by Disqus
All feeds
