P.U.P. Leader speaks on the recall petition

Francis Fonseca

All eyes will be on the Supreme Court on Friday, as the P.U.P. fights for judicial review and the government fights to protect the man in the center of an ongoing immigration scandal. That is one angle of attack on Penner, but there is still the matter of the recall petition which was blocked by the Elections and Boundaries Department. The P.U.P. has stated that it will seek judicial review on that matter also. Today party leader, Francis Fonseca, told News Five that while that hasn’t gone away, it has been pushed somewhat to the backburner while the writ of Mandamus is front and center.

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Francis Fonseca, P.U.P.  Leader

“That is ongoing, that is ongoing, but at the same time we are pursuing this parallel track. The bottom line is that we believe there must be an investigation into Mr. Penner’s actions. We believe that at the end of the day criminal charges should be laid against Mr. Penner based on the evidence that has been available. So it’s on parallel tracks. Obviously the recall process is a political process that we are engaged in on the ground…in terms of the judicial review of the Elections and Boundaries decision, that is a matter that we are pursuing as well and they are taking place at the same time, but we are certainly more focused at this time on this issue because we think this must take priority in terms of determining how best we move forward and provide answers to the Belizean people.”

The P.U.P. maintains that Chief Elections Officer Josephine Tamai did not have the legal authority to disqualify petitioners whose signatures appeared twice. The party has also produced persons who are registered in Cayo Northeast but who were disqualified because the elections and Boundaries Department claims that they were not.