Judge Orders Ballot Re-examination In Ian ‘Patches’ Liburd Election Petition Case

By: Staff Writer

High Court Judge Justice Trevor Ward QC, today, Friday 25th September 2020, ordered that the boxes coming out of St. Christopher #1 following the June 5th, 2020 general elections be reopened, and the rejected ballots be re-examined.

Next week Friday, Oct 2nd, 2020 has been designated by the court for the official inspection of the rejected ballots. This commences at 9am in the presence of the legal teams, the Assistant Registrar and the Supervisor of Elections.

In last week’s court appearance (September 17th), Lawyers for Ian Liburd, who lost his seat on June 5th after one term as the Representative for Constituency #1 – East Basseterre, argued that the ballot boxes should be re-opened and re-examined because most of the rejected votes, if considered valid were cast in his favor.

While his opponent, Geoffrey Hanley and his lawyer, Senior Counsel Anthony Astaphan argued that for scrutiny, the ballots that are being objected to must be isolated and each ballot should constitute a separate trial.

While Dr. Hanley’s legal team is confident that the results will not change, Ian Liburd is confident of a victory once the rejected ballots are considered to be valid.