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Elections at Kwakwani NDC tied again

Dec 30, 2016 News

…Communities Minister expected to intervene

Following the first internal elections of the Kwakwani Neighbourhood Democratic Council for the position of Chairman and Vice-Chairman, the NDC held a second round of voting on Wednesday which also resulted in a tie.
According to one councillor, Charles Thom, at this point the Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, would have to intervene and appoint persons to fill the two posts.
Thom, who is a member of the Kwakwani United for Progress (KUFP) group contesting the elections, said yesterday, that his councillors voiced their objection to the second vote involving just the councillors, but decided to vote nonetheless to ensure the positions were not hijacked by the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change members.
Thom told this publication that based on previous ties the Minister would use the results of the votes at the village level to inform his decision as to which group or party should occupy one of the seats on the NDC.
When asked what the results were after the Local Government Elections held in March of this year, Thom said that the KUFP gained 328 votes while the APNU+AFC got 422 votes and the People’s Progressive Party Civic, 56.
In a previous article published by this newspaper, there was a matter of interpretation affecting the NDC as it relates to a provision in the Local Government Act Chapter 28:02.
Thom’s argument is that Section 28(6) requires that for the second vote, the residents of the community should be made to vote for their choice of Chairman and Vice-Chairman and should not involve the 12 councillors.
The section states, “If more councillors than one are nominated for the office of chairman, the overseer shall forthwith proceed to take the votes of the councillors present and the councillor securing the greatest number of votes shall forthwith be declared to be elected as chairman.
“But if there is no election on account of an equality of votes, the overseer shall immediately fix a day within the last ten days of the year for the election, by the registered voters, of a chairman from the councillors receiving the greatest number of equal votes, and the election shall be held and conducted and a return or election made in all respects in the same manner as provided for the election of village councillors.”
According to Thom, the tie occurred since one of the APNU+AFC councillors voted in favour of the KUFP group when the position of chairman was being contested. He said that the one APNU+AFC councillor had expressed his displeasure at how the NDC was being run and decided to vote outside party lines.
There are seven APNU+AFC and five KUFP councillors on the NDC. The PPP/C received no seats.
Two APNU+AFC councillors tied for the Vice-Chairman position. They were Carl Liverpool and Kelvin Daly. Competing for the Chairmanship were Merna Adrian of the APNU+AFC and Juanita Leacock of the KUFP.
Based on the differing interpretations of the law, the KUFP were calling on the prominent legal minds in and out of government to assist in providing advice on what the Section really means.

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