Opposition Leader Must Resign if Found Guilty of Electoral Offence
Richard “Dickie” Bradley
If Opposition Leader, Moses “Shyne” Barrow is found guilty of an electoral offence, he will be forced to resign from the House of Representatives. That is what his attorney Richard Bradley says Section Fifty-eight of the Belize Constitution states. That particular section disqualifies anyone from membership in parliament if convicted of an offense related to elections. Barrow is facing objections from the People’s United Party (P.U.P.) regarding his voter registration in Mesopotamia Division. Barrow’s attorney, Richard “Dickie” Bradley, argued that his client followed all legal requirements to be registered at the residence and has witnesses to confirm that he lives there. The P.U.P.’s attorney Leeroy Banner argued that Barrow does not and did not ever reside at Eighty King Street, and said that photos were presented of one of Barrow’s purported previous vehicles parked at another residence on Saint Charles Street. Banner argued that the address that Barrow gave as his residence is actually his political office and resource centre. Bradley says the P.U.P. has no case and explains why:
Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Attorney for Moses Barrow
“The elections laws of the country and the constitution of Belize lays down what would disqualify a person either from entering the nation’s parliament which is referred to under law as the national assembly or if you are already a member and if you are found to be in violation of any election law, election offence, that person will have to resigned. But when goaded in the witness stand, Alan Kelly said to the court, what honorable Shyne is doing has been done before that none other than George Price went and registered and lived in his constituency. Price lived at Pickstock until his dying day. What Shyne is doing is sending a message I am not those heighty tighty don’t want to be around the people. He went and registered in King Street in the Mesopotamia area and one of the objectors and we won’t call any name because it’s not something favorable but one of the objectors was saying he was taken aback when he learned that Shyne, a man who is used to luxury and who has a certain levels would go and register on King Street. He was taken aback that can’t be. This is a bungalow house. You see a little tiny house. That is what goaded him into go and put is named them as objecting to the person. So this case originally came up for objection when the rolls for transfer was being revised. The objectors did not show. The chief magistrate waited for them for hours , they did not show. Now that the overall list is being revised, they have turned back up in an attempt to basically to psych out the Leader of the Opposition and to put him to some level of embarrassment because what they say has nothing to do with what the law requires. The law is, did he reside at that address for a minimum of two months prior to July? That is what this issue is all about. There is nothing in the law to say. I can’t sleep somewhere else. I can’t spend the night with my sweetheart. Just as an example. I’m not saying that is what happened. I can’t go and spend some time with my wife somewhere else. I said to the chief Honorable Chief Magistrate, after a person is added on the electoral roll, they can get up and go to United States of America. There’s no law that says you have to hang around. You must be there. The issue is, was he resident there? Can he still be resident there if he wanted to sleep there overnight? Can he do so? And the answer is a resounding yes.”
The Chief Magistrate is expected to hand down her ruling on November 24.
