P.U.P. files Election Petition for U.S. Citizen Schakron

Lisa Shoman

From the high seas to the court, an application for leave to present an Election Petition was filed with the Supreme Court by Yolanda Schakron. Schakron was rejected on nomination day to contest the general elections in Lake Independence. Schakron would have been on the P.U.P. ticket and was considered a sure winner, but it was revealed in mid February that she had dual citizenship; she was born in Guatemala, but holds Belize and US passports. She willingly started the process of renouncing her US citizenship, but the registering officer, Noreen Fairweather, did not accept her nomination. Soon after the elections, the People’s United Party announced they would be challenging the rejection since they believe it was not within Fairweather’s power to refuse the nomination. A press release was issued by the P.U.P. Secretariat this afternoon, saying that the petition challenges the validity of Mark King’s election as a member of the House of Representatives and that the voters of the Lake Independence Division were unlawfully deprived of an opportunity to elect Schakron. Attorney Lisa Shoman told News Five, that the desired outcome is a bi-election.

Lisa Shoman, Attorney

“This morning we filed the election petition for Yolanda Schakron. That petition is in response to the fact that the returning officer on nomination day refused to allow Yolanda Schakron’s name to be on the ballot. So we asked the court to declare that her name should have been on the ballot and that we should have a bi-election.”

Delahnie Bain

“I know there are two other petitions that will or have been filed…”

Lisa Shoman

“I’m not going to speak on petitions until they have been filed. This particular petition for Miss Schakron, like all petitions, we filed it and we have asked the court for leave so it will be up to the court to decide whether they will give us permission to election petition.”

Delahnie Bain

“Okay, so at this point it’s preliminary stuff.”

Lisa Shoman

“At this point, this is a preliminary action that has to be taken; you have to get permission from the court to actually file an election petition. But in order to do that you have to attach the election petition you intend to file. So we have done that as well and it has two supporting affidavits.”

Delahnie Bain

“And if this is granted, what happens next?”

Lisa Shoman

“If it’s granted, the election petition will be taken before the court and the court will make a determination as to whether Miss Schakron’s name in fact should have been on the ballot. We’re saying that the nomination day returning officer should have not disallowed her name. That is an action that can only be taken by an election judge and that her actions were not in accordance with her powers.”

Two other petitions are expected to be filed shortly with respect to the results of the March seventh general elections in the Cayo Northeast and Cayo Central constituencies where Orlando “Landy” Habet lost by eleven votes and Collet Montejo by forty-four votes respectively.