KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Appeal Court has granted Prime Minister Bruce Golding permission to call a by-election in the constituency of North East St Ann which has been without a parliamentary representative since former legislator Shahine Robinson of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) was disqualified.
Earlier today, Justice Dennis Morrison lifted a stay of execution that prevented Golding from calling the by-election.
The stay of execution was granted last month after the Supreme Court declared the seat vacant. It followed an application by the opposition People’s National Party’s (PNP) Manley Bowen, whose election petition resulted in Robinson’s disqualification.
In September, Robinson was forced to withdraw from challenging the election petition after Bowen provided fresh evidence showing that she had in fact sworn allegiance to the United States, obtaining her citizenship to that country in 2006, while being a Member of Parliament.
Robinson eventually admitted that she was a US citizen at the time of nomination and through her legal team renounced that she had since given up her US citizenship. She said she would also be contesting the by-election.
Bowen’s legal team had asked for an extension of the stay, pending the outcome of his appeal against the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear his application to hand the seat over to attorney Oswest Senior-Smith the PNP’s candidate who was defeated by Robinson in the September 2007 elections.
The Jamaica Constitution prevents parliamentarians from swearing allegiance to a foreign power that is outside of the Commonwealth. (CMC)
