August says P.U.P. struggling; and explain 3-step process of bye-election

Alberto August

But the prospects, according to August, are less than likely that the People’s United Party will emerge victorious if a bye-election should be called since he claims that the opposition is struggling to garner the required thirty percent of signatures necessary to trigger Penner’s recall.  The three-step process, August says, will see the P.U.P. grappling with voter turnout.  Sixty-five percent of the voters are needed in order for a bye-election in Cayo Northeast to be held.  If a midterm election does materialize in the weeks to come the UDP, says August, is already actively seeking a candidate to replace Penner.

Alberto August, Chairman, United Democratic Party

“You will realize that by their own admission they began collecting signatures twelve days ago, on the fourth of October.  We’re at the sixteenth now, so twelve days and by their own admission have collected fifteen hundred signatures.  In terms of collecting signatures for the petition they can take as long as they want but the longer they take it obviously shows that they are weak in terms of collecting those thirty percent of the registered voters in the constituency for the presentation of that recall petition to the Governor General.  Once the petition is submitted to the Governor General then the timeline begins.  The Governor General, according to the Recall Act, is required to forthwith present that petition to the Chief Elections Officer for verification.  The Chief Elections Officer has thirty days to verify the signatures on the petition and if at the end of that exercise the Chief Elections Officer determines that there is enough signatures to forward the petition then it is sent back to the Governor General with a certification indicating that the threshold has been met. Upon receipt of that certificate, then the Governor General has fifteen days to issue what is called a writ of referendum. In that writ of referendum, the Governor General by law is required to set a date for a recall referendum which should not be less than fifteen days after the writ is signed and sent out. Now in terms of the writ, the law requires for sixty-five percent of the registered voters of any constituency to participate in the recall referendum. If at the end of the polling, which would be during normal polling ours from six or seven in the morning up to six in the evening, an eleven hour span; if sixty-five percent of the registered voters in the constituency do not participate in the referendum then it becomes null and void. You would realize that we are at day twelve right now and they have still been unable to collect thirty percent of the signatures. Can you imagine how difficult it will be for them within eleven hours to collect sixty five percent of the voters or to get sixty-five percent of the electorates in the constituency to participate in a recall referendum? Then the third and final process in this thing is that after…if they somehow manage to get the sixty-five percent of voters in the constituency to participate in the referendum, then the Governor General sets a date for a bye-election to be held which should not be held less than thirty days after the recall referendum.”

Reporter

“In terms of all of what you have said, if this is to become a reality. You are saying that it is farfetched, but there is still a possibility that this can come to fruition. If so, has the United Democratic Party begun looking for someone to replace Elvin Penner in the Cayo Northeast constituency as the person who will contest that particular area?”

Alberto August

“Well as you are aware, the prime minister was in the Cayo Northeast constituency whole of this weekend. Before leaving on Monday, we had the second meeting with the executive committee of the Cayo Northeast constituency and yes several names are coming forward; several names are being presented at this time as a replacement candidate if we should go to a bye-election in the constituency.”

Reporter

“I take it that you are not at liberty to discuss or divulge those names?”

Alberto August

“Well we are still…it is up to the screening of the vetting committee of the party to make a final determination as to who eventually will emerge as our candidate in the constituency.”

The U.D.P. is not saying who their candidate would be in case of bye-election, but indications are that the U.D.P. prefers that the likely candidate, John August, remains in his post as the mayor of the Twin Towns. So the other name being called is one of Penner’s generals who worked closely with Penner in the last elections.