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Yesterday the Government used its majority in the House of Representatives to pass a bill which will delay for three months a by-election to replace former Morant Bay MP Rohan Bryan, who died in May.
Bryan’s death leaves a vacancy in the Morant Bay precinct of the St. Thomas Municipal Council, where the ruling Jamaica Labour Party controls six of the ten precincts, while the People’s National Party (PNP) controls three.
Tuesday, The Gleaners It is unclear when the district’s 10,923 registered voters will be asked to choose new representatives, the report said. About 3,377 of them voted in the February election.
The bill was passed after 25 government MPs voted in favour of the amendment to paragraph 4(5) of the Eighth Schedule to the Representation of the People Act (ROPA), while eight opposition MPs voted against.
Twenty-eight lawmakers were absent from the vote, including Prime Minister Andrew Holness, the minister in charge of ROPA.
The amendment will allow for an extension of three months within which by-elections must be held when vacancies arise in municipal corporation constituencies.
The proposed extension period shall not exceed 90 days or three months if the country is at war; a state of emergency is declared; a natural disaster occurs, including earthquake, hurricane, flood, fire, outbreak of plague or epidemic; the official lists of all constituencies are not printed on election day, or there is riot, public violence or other civil unrest, which leads to the interruption, obstruction or abandonment of the electoral process, thereby preventing the holding of a fair election.
The vote came after Government Business Leader Edmund Bartlett introduced the bill but was opposed by Opposition Business Leader Phillip Paulwell, who subsequently called for a split.
Bartlett argued that the amendment was not made because of the death of People’s National Party representative Brian, but was made to provide an opportunity for the responsible minister to take action in the above situation in the future.
“It is therefore a testament to the Government of Jamaica’s proactive and responsive approach in the face of adversity that Cabinet has approved this bill introduced today,” Bartlett said.
But Paul Weir noted that the Opposition was strongly opposed to the bill and the way it was introduced to the House of Commons.
Paul Weir believes the government broke the law by not announcing a by-election date and trying to rush the bill through before parliament was adjourned.
“The government has acted illegally in this matter,” he said.
He argued that the law allowed the municipal corporation to be informed of Bryan’s death, which occurred on May 1 and was recorded in the council minutes on May 9.
Once notified, an election must be held within 90 days to replace him.
Powell noted that by law the by-election must be held before August 9, but he said that was not possible because preparations had to be made for nomination day.
He said the nomination day will be held five days after the date of announcement of the election and the election will be held at least 16 days from the date of election.
“Such a meeting cannot be held. So the first thing the government should do today is to admit when the minister addresses the parliament that we, the government, have violated the law. This is not right. The government cannot violate its own laws. This is wrong,” he asserted.
Furthermore, he said, if the government announced the election date before Hurricane Beryl hit on July 3, the election could have been postponed for 30 days.
“So what are we seeing now? The government broke the law and today, I believe as we begin our summer recess, we’re seeing another piece of hasty legislation,” he said, adding that the Opposition was seeing the bill for the first time.
He termed the move “chaka chaka” and said it was disrespectful not only to the opposition but also to local government institutions.
He said the residents of Morant Bay need representation, and their need is even more urgent now because of the hurricane.
He said delaying residents’ right to elect their representatives for 90 days was “a disgrace and an injustice”.
But Bartlett countered that these are not “normal times” in the country.
He said Powell was “completely unaware” of a provision of the law that allows elections to be held within a reasonable time “if a large event is taking place in the country.”
Bartlett’s argument was made in the context of a general election held in September 2020, six months into the height of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
“The member did not realize that we had just narrowly escaped a full-blown Category 4 hurricane, with its outer eyewall causing devastation to the country,” he said, noting that the country’s power system was disrupted and schools across the island were damaged.
“There is no need to turn everything into a political debate because people know very well why this amendment is needed. This amendment is being made because there may be other situations in the future besides this one…” he said.
He said the time by which a by-election could have been announced had passed because of the hurricane.
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