Mayoral candidate says let the law decide deadlock
The deadlock continues at City Hall as the two front runners for the Mayorship are still without the single crucial vote needed to assume office. In yesterday’s newscast we reported that a meeting was scheduled for this morning at City Hall where another attempt to resolve the impasse would have been made, but when we contacted him today, Acting Mayor Marshall Nuñez told News Five that he had no knowledge of any meeting, although he will try to get the Council together on Tuesday. While the Acting Mayor remains optimistic that the impasse will be broken shortly, Councilor and Mayoral hopeful Merilyn Young sees things differently. Contrary to the opinion given by the Solicitor General, she says, the law is quite clear: Minister Florencio Marin must appoint a new Mayor.
Merilyn Young, Councilor
“As far as I am concerned it says here, “if there is no election on account of equality of votes, or the council for any other reason fails at such meeting to elect a Mayor, the minister shall appoint someone of the council to be Mayor.” That was exactly what the minister was doing through his P.S. for a meeting to be held on last Tuesday, however, the Attorney General and the Solicitor General got involved and ensured that that meeting did not transpire. So I think that the minister at this time should make the decision as to who should be Mayor and who will be Deputy Mayor.”
Q: “I understand that the Solicitor General’s legal opinion is that a proxy vote by absent Councilor Eric Kirkwood should be allowed which would then break the deadlock. What’s your take on that?”
Merilyn Young
“The law again Patrick, specifies that if any member is absent without leave for four consecutive meetings of the council and is at the date of the last of such meetings absent from Belize, he shall cease to be a member of the council and his seat in the council should there upon become vacant. So as far as I am concerned he has been absent from four consecutive meetings so his seat is vacant.
The law again goes further to say that the Mayor, may with the concurrence of four other members, grant leave of absence to any member for a period not exceeding six months. As far as I know there has been no letter written by the Mayor and signed by himself and four other councilors giving Eric Kirkwood permission to leave the country for six months. And if that has happened, six months has exceeded since the last election of Mayor.”
Q: “The Acting Mayor is saying and pretty optimistically that this deadlock will be resolved very shortly, in-house. Given what you’ve quoted from the law, how can that be?”
Merilyn Young
“I don’t see that happening. The only way I see it happening is if the Minister of Local Government or the Prime Minister intervenes and appoint a Mayor and Deputy Mayor until the election is called in February or March of next year.”
Young says that as long as the deadlock continues, the work of managing the city’s affairs cannot be carried out efficiently. Meanwhile, Councilor Young has been named as the new Chairperson of the September Celebrations Committee. Her appointment to the post is the result of the resignation of the former chairperson, Janine Sylvestre.
