JAN 03

Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Adrian "Spaceman" Mitchell is not happy with his defeat by Opposition leader Tillman Thomas of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for his rural St. Patrick East seat in the November 27 general election.

Thomas whipped Mitchell by just over 200 votes to end the Minister's eight year old stronghold on the constituency which he first won in 1995.

He defeated the NDC leader then and also in 1999 when the ruling New National Party (NNP) of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell took all fifteen seats in the poll.

In his election petition filed in the Supreme Court Registry, Mitchell who is now serving as a Minister of State in government accused a police officer on duty at a polling station of actively coercing people to vote for Thomas on election day within the precincts of the polling station.

He also claimed that one of his own supporters "was approached
at some time shortly before the poll was held and was given money and strong drink by a known supporter of the National Democratic Congress in an attempt to secure his vote for Mr. Tillman Thomas, in breach of the Representation of the People Act 1993...".
"Mr. Delano Viechweg, Returning Officer for the Constituency is well known to him (Adrian Mitchell) to be a partisan supporter of the National Democratic Congress and of Mr. Tillman Thomas in particular...", he added.

GRENADA TODAY has decided to bring to the attention of the public some of the major highlights in the election petition filed by Adrian "Spaceman" Mitchell against Tillman Thomas:

1. Your Petitioner (Adrian Mitchell) states that the said Election was marked by irregularities in breach of the Representation of the People Act No. 35 of 1993 resulting in voting by persons who were not entitled to vote.

The Petitioner further states that there were sufficient such persons, known personally to him to be strong supporters of Tillman Thomas and whose votes were sufficient to provide the said Tillman Thomas with his simple majority of votes.

2. Your Petitioner states that the said Election was marked by irregularities in breach of the Representation of the People Act No. 35 of 1993 resulting in voting by persons who were entitled to vote not being permitted to vote.

The Petitioner further states that there were sufficient such persons known personally to him to be strong supporters of his candidacy and whose votes, had they been cast, were sufficient to provide your Petitioner with a simple majority of votes.

3. Your Petitioner states that the said Election was marked by irregularities in breach of the Representation of the People Act No. 35 of 1993 and in particularly by the conduct or misconduct of persons outside various Polling Stations, including:

(a) that at several Polling Stations, persons known by the Petitioner to be supporters of Tillman Thomas and the National Democratic Congress were present within the statutory 100-yard limit and were actively coercing prospective voters to cast their ballots for Tillman Thomas,

(b) that in general, the police officers who were on duty at the said Polling Stations did nothing to prevent the coercion of voters by recognizable supporters of the National Democratic Congress, in breach of their statutory duty and that at least one such Polling Station, an officer on duty within the precincts of that Polling Station was actively coercing voters for Tillman Thomas.
And thereby, the rights of your Petitioner to a free and fair election were prejudiced, and his prospects of being elected as a Member of the House of Representative were unlawfully diminished.

4. Your Petitioner states that Mr. Delano Viechweg, Returning Officer for the Constituency is well known to him to be a partisan supporter of the National Democratic Congress and of Mr. Tillman Thomas in particular, and that despite the written application of your Petitioner's agent to the Supervisor of Elections for the replacement of the Returning Officer by a person of no known bias against your Petitioner no such replacement was made and as a result the said Presiding Officer and Poll Clerk by their actions were in breach of the sworn duty to perform their respective duties in accordance with the provisions of the Representation of the People Act 1993 without partiality, fear, favour or affection, and in particular:

(a) At many of the Polling Stations, the voters lists, completed 'Statement of the Poll after Counting of Ballots (Form 22)' which had been used and marked by your Petitioner's official agent were confiscated by the respective Presiding Officer following the first count of votes, thus depriving your Petitioner of his right to scrutinise the same prior to the official count.

(b) At one Polling Station, the Presiding Officer was heard by your Petitioner's official agent to make remarks disparaging of your Petitioner and the New National Party in general to the Poll Clerk and to the official agent for Mr. Tillman Thomas, and these remarks were made in the hearing of voters within the Polling Station.

(c) In several Polling Stations, after the first count in which votes for each candidate were counted and placed in separate envelopes, these envelopes were not sealed before being transmitted to the Returning Officer.

(d) In at least one Polling Station, the official agent of your Petitioner was not given the opportunity to clearly see the ballot papers during the first count.

and thereby, the rights of your Petitioner to a free and fair election were prejudiced, and his prospects of being elected were unlawfully reduced.

5. That your Petitioner has become aware that one of his known supporters was approached at some time shortly before the poll was held and was given money and strong drink by a known supporter of the National Democratic Congress in an attempt to secure his vote for Mr. Tillman Thomas, in breach of the Representation of the People Act 1993, and thereby, the rights of your Petitioner to a free and fair election were prejudiced, and his prospects of being elected as a Member of the House of Representative were unlawfully diminished.

6. That the aforesaid irregularities and breaches of the Representation of the People Act No. 35 of 1993 were known or should have been known to the said Delano Viechweg and Victor Ashby in the performance of their respective statutory duties.
The Petitioner's rights pursuant to the said Act were infringed by the failure of Delano Viechweg and Victor Ashby to prevent or mitigate the effect of the said irregularities and breaches.

7. That the non-compliance with the provisions of the Representation of the People Act No. 35 of 1993 and or the breaches of the said Act and or the irregularities included in this Petition taken individually, together or in different combinations or taken cumulatively resulted in substantial distortion and subversion of the process and a result the outcome of the Election was substantially distorted and affected so that the result does not represent the will of the majority of the people, and your Petitioner's prospects of being elected as a Member of the House of Representative were unlawfully diminished.

WHEREFORE Your Humble Petitioner PRAYS that it may be determined by This Honourable Court that the said Tillman Thomas was not duly elected or returned for the Constituency of Saint George South (Saint Patrick East), and that the said Election be declared null and void.