A thread for anyone interested in law and politics in Jamaica. We're discussing the common law doctrine of "wasted votes" or "votes thrown away" in the contest between Daryl Vaz & Abe Dabdoub in the 2007 general election. 1/16

Abe Dabdoub (PNP) and Daryl Vaz (JLP) were nominated for the seat in the Sept. 3, 2007 general election. Back then, Vaz didn't need a US visa. He was a US citizen. Abe, a lawyer, knew this & knew that anyone with allegiance to a foreign power could not sit in parliament. 2/16

So honest Abe tried his best to inform the constituents that Vaz's nomination was null & void & that votes cast for Vaz would be "wasted". He printed & circulated a Notice of Disqualification. Abe knew the common law doctrine of wasted votes, which says ...3/16

that if someone casts a vote for a candidate whom he KNOWS is disqualified, that vote is thrown away & not counted. However, the disqualifying facts & the voters' knowledge of them must be "clear, definite & certain" before the Court will deem the votes thrown away. 4/16

Enter Danville Walker, former Director of Elections (who was also a US/Ja. dual citizen at the time) who issued a press statement & a press release calling honest Abe's actions, "gimmickry". He said he was trying to mislead voters that their votes would be wasted. 5/16

Mr Walker did not seek a legal opinion from the Attorney General's Chambers before issuing the statements. He also said that all candidates (incl. Vaz) had been duly nominated & only a court would disqualify him. 6/16

(By the way, Vaz did not deny that he was a US citizen at the time. He rightly said that dual citizenship didn't disqualify him. The law speaks to allegiance by your own act. He had acquired US citizenship, involuntarily, as a child through his Puerto Rican mother). 7/16

On Sept. 3, 2007, Daryl beat Dabdoub by 944 votes (6977 to 6033) with a 72% constituency voter turnout - one of the highest in the country. On Oct. 1, Dabdoub sued, asking the Supreme Court to declare him the winner & unseat Vaz. 8/16

At the trial, Vaz called Walker as a witness. It seems things got heated when Dabdoub suggested that Walker was friends with Vaz. Walker didn't appreciate that at all. When court broke for lunch, it was reported that Walker & Dabdoub almost came to blows. 9/16

It came out that there was a telephone call b/n Walker and Abe before the election where Walker told Abe that he was "trying to fool up little black people" by putting out those notices of disqualification. An "unfortunate remark" he admitted. 10/16

The CJ ruled that by renewing & traveling on his US passport, Vaz had, by his own deed, acknowledged his allegiance to a foreign power & was disqualified. The CJ ordered a by-election because the votes weren't wasted. Why? Danville Walker's Press Releases! 11/16

Because of those official press releases it couldn't reasonably be said that the voters were clear, definite & certain that Daryl was DQ'ed. In other words, who would the people believe? A PNP lawyeror the Director of Elections(my words)... 12/16

Abe appealed, but the Court of Appeal agreed with the Chief Justice on everything except who was to pay legal costs. Point of interest: 1 of the appellate judges said that Walker "entered the fray perhaps inadvisedly" and another said he "jumped into the arena". 13/16

That said, would Dabdoub have got the seat had it not been for Danville's press release?
No.
The Court also said that where disqualification is based on facts that require adjudication by a court after the election, the seat cannot be awarded to the other candidate. 14/16

Vaz renounced his US citizenship; the by election was held and he beat the PNP candidate (not Dabdoub this time). Walker did not renounce his US citizenship at the time but resigned (it being unlawful for someone w/ foreign allegiance to be Director of Elections!). 15/16

In 2011, Danville Walker renounced his US citizenship in order to run for the seat in Central Manchester on behalf of the Jamaica Labour Party. The End.

p.s. - In a press release dated Dec 7, 2011 - Mr Walker complained about intimidation of JLP voters: - "The tactics of the 2007 elections are back and so are the persons who orchestrated them during that election."
He lost by 439 votes.
http://www.danvillewalker.com