The Court of Appeal has set aside three days next month to hear the UNC’s appeal against the dismissal of its five election petitions challenging the result of last year’s general election.
Attorneys for the Opposition party, who filed the appeal last Thursday, were informed yesterday by the court’s registry that the appeal would be heard between October 17 to 19.
The UNC is challenging the decision of High Court Judge Mira Dean-Armorer, who last month dismissed the UNC’s claim that the election should be invalidated because the Election and Boundaries Commission (EBC) was not allowed to extend the poll by one hour due to heavy rainfall in Trinidad.
While Dean-Armorer had agreed with the UNC that the EBC acted illegally, she ruled its error did not materially affect the result of the election, in which People’s National Movement (PNM) beat the UNC by a 23-18 margin.
The party claims that the judge erred in speculating over its decision to file petitions for only six marginal constituencies, San Fernando West, Tunapuna, St Joseph, Toco/Sangre Grande, Moruga/Tableland and La Horquetta/Talparo.
The UNC also contends that the judge was wrong to dismiss its evidence of the unknown consequences of the EBC’s decision as speculation.
“It was not known from the evidence before her how many people were aware of the commission’s directive and how those people who were aware of it would have reacted to it.
“These unknown consequences meant that the learned judge could not properly have found with certainty that the breaches did not materially affect the outcome of the election,” the appeal states.
The court’s ruling in the case will be final as it and not the United Kingdom-based Privy Council, the country’s final appeal court, has final jurisdiction over all election challenges.