Dr. Andrew Holness trailed by just over 100 votes after 87 of the 105 ballot boxes were counted in the September 2025 election, but eventually won the seat with 7,054 votes to Mr. Buchanan's 4,953.
.png)
Prince Moore reports
Lawyers representing People's National Party (PNP) candidate Paul Buchanan have filed a constitutional motion before the Supreme Court challenging the election victory of Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness in the West Central St. Andrew constituency.
In the motion, Mr. Buchanan is asking the court to void the September 3 election result and to instruct the Director of Elections to hold fresh elections for the seat.
The latest challenge by Mr. Buchanan comes just weeks after the appeal court rejected his application to overturn the election result.
But in the constitutional motion filed on Friday, Mr. Buchanan and his legal team are asking the court to declare that the conduct of the election to fill the parliamentary seat was done in violation of his rights to a free and fair election, as guaranteed under the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedom.
In his claim, he argues that the Director of Elections, who is the first defendant, violated his constitutional rights when he certified Dr. Holness to be the winner of the seat. He accused the Director of Elections of certifying the result despite what he described as egregious breaches of the Representation of the People Act.
In light of the alleged breaches, Mr. Buchanan is asking the court to declare the election void and order a fresh election to fill the West Central St. Andrew seat.
In the appeal, Mr. Buchanan alleged that irregularities and voter fraud influenced the result in the constituency on election day. But in its ruling, the appeal court said the timeline for him to present his challenge before the election court had expired. Therefore, the appeal was dismissed.
Mr. Buchanan's first challenge to the legitimacy of the election results was rejected in a ruling on September 30, 2025 by the Supreme Court. Then, the Constituted Authority determined that his claims of irregularities on election day were insufficient to justify overturning the result.
Dr. Holness won the seat with 7,054 votes to Mr. Buchanan's 4,953. His victory and margin prompted public debate because Dr. Holness had been trailing by just over 100 votes after 87 of the 105 ballot boxes were counted.
According to the Director of Elections, the remaining 18 boxes which shifted the outcome came from polling stations at Seaward Gardens Primary and Infant School.
Mr. Wildman has promised that Mr. Buchanan's challenge will go as far as the UK-based Privy Council.
comments powered by Disqus
All feeds
