Lawyers representing Prime Minister Dr. Godwin Friday and his Foreign Affairs Minister Fitzgerald Bramble are expected to lay provide their legal arguments when the election petition case involving the two senior government ministers resume here on August 31.
Justice Gertel Thom adjourned the matter to that date with the former Trinidad and Tobago attorney general, Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan, telling reporters he is confident of the case to be argued on behalf of Prime Minister Friday and Bramble.
‘We feel very confident. We come back in the first week in September when we will present our evidence and thereafter in November, we will then wrap up and provide our legal submissions,’ he said.
But Senior Counsel, Stuart Young, the the former Trinidad and Tobago prime minister, who is leading the team for the two defeated candidates in the November 27 general elections that brought the petitions, said that his clients were equally confident of victory.
He said that the petitioners, Luke Browne and Carlos Williams remain confident that the High Court will apply the law fairly and that the evidence presented supports their position.
‘And I look forward to the next stage, which will be cross-examining the respondents’ witnesses. But when that time comes, you all will see,’ Young told reporters.
Browne is challenging the victory of the Bramble, who won the East Kingstown seat, while Williams is asking the court to declare the victory of Prime Minister Friday in the Northern Grenadines null and void.
Friday led the then opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) to victory in the November 27 general election last year, ending a 24-year rule by the ULP.
Browne is contending that Bramble was not qualified to be a candidate because he holds Canadian citizenship, while Williams has filed a similar petition against Friday.
After three days of evidence in the constitutional challenge which questions the eligibility of the two government parliamentarians to hold their seats in the House of Assembly will resume August 31 and will run until September 4, even as legal experts anticipate that the matter is not expected to be wrapped up before November.
On Thursday, the petitioner’s expert witness, Sarah McKins, the Canadian immigration expert attorney, gave evidence virtually after which she was cross examined by Ramlogan for most of the day.
‘We have cross-examined both petitioners and all of their witnesses and several remarkable things have emerged during intense interrogation in the witness box that we are looking forward to addressing the court on.
Ramlogan said his legal team remains confident that the evidence presented supports their case and that they expect to prevail. We are aware of the judgement. We think that it will be consistent with the democracy and the democratic will that manifested itself in the general elections and we are very confident that this matter is not going to detain us for much longer,’ he said.
But Young said he is confident in the strength of the petitioner’s case and expressed satisfaction with the testimony presented by the expert witness.
‘We’ve just completed …the first three days of the evidence of the petitions that are before the court dealing with a very, very important constitutional position. We the petitioners have now completed their evidence, including the expert, and I feel very confident,’ Young added.
Prime Minister Friday who has been present during the three days of court sitting, told reporters that his position on the matter has not changed.
‘In fact, I feel better that the further we go in this matter, the better I feel about it because I believe that our position is the one that is right in law. The people, what I would say to them is thank you for your support. Thank you for the mandate that you gave us on November 27(
‘So I’m going to be here every single minute of every day. I’m not making any cameo appearances and disappearing. I’m here to represent the people. Every minute of the day I’ll be in the court until this matter is vindicated,’ Prime Minister Friday said.
Former speaker of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Parliament, Jomo Thomas, speaking on his radio programme, said regardless of the High Court’s initial ruling, he is certain the matter will be appealed.
He told radio listeners that achieving constitutional clarity is a vital investment for the future of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
‘If we get clarity on the constitution… we can’t put a price to that,’ said the prominent attorney.