Last of the election petitions die of natural causes

Herman Longsworth

Due to the volume of news in the past few days, we had missed the following in court on election petitions. Of five petitions originally filed in court following the general elections, the last was withdrawn by the People’s United Party. It was filed against Albert Area Rep, Herman Longsworth, by aspirant David Craig. Attorneys for Craig submitted that Longsworth had a contract to construct the perimeter fence of the Marion Jones Stadium, which was not disclosed prior to the March seventh election. But last Friday, when the hearing was to proceed, Craig’s Attorney Said Musa instead applied for leave to withdraw the petition, saying that they have since learnt that the contract had been completed before the election.  Justice Michelle Arana allowed the withdrawal, ordering Craig to pay seven thousand, five hundred dollars in court costs.  Other petitions by the P.U.P. against Cayo North’s Elvin Penner and Lake I’s Mark King were previously struck out. A single petition brought by the U.D.P. against Opposition Leader Francis Fonseca was also struck out by the Chief Justice.