PLPs Lay Out Case:
By Candia Dames -
Nassau, Bahamas:

Former Blue Hills MP Leslie Miller has sworn an affidavit naming 48 people he says voted in the constituency in the May 2 general election who were not Bahamians.

Most of the last names of the people are Haitian surnames.

Mr. Miller says also that at least 131 of the votes counted were not lawful votes as the persons voting were not entitled to vote either because they on the day of the election were not citizens of The Bahamas or were not at some time during the period of the six months immediately preceding the election ordinarily resident in the constituency.

In his affidavit, he says, "that at the count and recount exercise after the polls closed 14 ballots with votes for me were rejected on the basis that there was an ink impression finger mark on the ballot."

Mr. Miller says this was notwithstanding the statutory procedure for the immersion of the voter’s thumb in ink before being permitted to vote.

He says those votes ought to have been counted in the total of votes. Mr. Miller lost the election to Sidney Collie by 47 votes.

Mr. Miller says that on May 2 he saw a man he knows did not reside in Blue Hills. He says he confronted the man in the presence of a uniformed police officer about voting in the Blue Hills Constituency.

"He responded to me with much profanity that he indeed did not live in Blue Hills, but he along with a hundred other persons were voting in this constituency to vote me out," he says.

Mr. Miller says there are numerous constituents that he knows personally whose homes he has visited who came to the Blue Hills polling stations to cast their votes and were turned away because their names did not appear on the Blue Hills register and the names that appear on the list were among those who were turned away.

He says that at least four persons who were resident in the constituency of Blue Hills and were registered to vote in the 2007 general election were denied an opportunity of doing so by the presiding officers at the polls.

"[Mr. Collie] obtained an apparent and colourable majority over me, whereas in truth and fact I had the majority of lawful votes of the registered voters who voted at the said election and who were at the time thereof duly qualified by law to vote, and was duly elected as a member to serve in parliament for the said constituency and ought to have been returned as such member," Mr. Miller says in his affidavit.

He is seeking a declaration that the return of Mr. Collie was undue; a scrutiny on the ground that he (Mr. Miller), the unsuccessful candidate, had a majority of the lawful votes cast; a declaration that he was duly elected and ought to have been returned, and other relief as the court may deem just.

Two other defeated PLP candidates have mounted challenges in Election Court: Pleasant Bridgewater, who lost in Marco City, and Allyson Maynard-Gibson, who lost in Pinewood.

The Bahama Journal was unable to secure copies of the affidavits and other documents filed on behalf of Mrs. Maynard-Gibson. The documents were not available in the Supreme Court Registry as the file is before a judge.

Mrs. Maynard-Gibson advised the Journal to speak to her attorney.

But her attorney – Gail Lockhart-Charles – told the Journal that as a matter of policy she does not provide the press with documents.

The Journal was able to obtain copies of the documents filed in support of Ms. Bridgewater’s case.

She lost the election to Zhivargo Laing, also by 47 votes.

Ms. Bridgewater claims in her affidavit that 100 of the votes counted were not lawful votes as the persons voting were not entitled to vote either because they on the day of the election were not citizens of the Bahamas or were not at some time during the period of six months immediately preceding that day ordinarily resident in premises in the constituency.

She goes on to list the persons she alleges voted illegally.

"I am personally aware of the fact that on the 2nd day of May, 2007 there were a number of persons who were not citizens of the Bahamas, but their names appeared on the register of voters for the constituency for Marco City," Ms. Bridgewater says.

"In my presence, [Cecil Thompson] as returning officer, rejected a ballot of one such person who purported to vote in Polling Division No. 7 and whose vote was rejected because the following words were written on the space provided for Zhivargo Laing…‘Please help me with passport’."

Ms. Bridgewater says, "Indeed, a search of the official Gazette failed to show any official recording of the date on which the persons listed…had obtained their citizenship from the Government of The Bahamas."

She says she is also able to confirm that the premises officially ascribed as the address of certain persons are or were on the 2nd day of May 2007 abandoned and dilapidated premises that were or are uninhabitable.

29 June 2007