Headlines:
| Court to rule next year in Dabdoub/Vaz court case |
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| Wednesday, 03 December 2008 | |
 The Appeal
Court has reserved judgement in the controversial
dual citizenship battle between defeated People's National Party candidate Abe
Dabdoub and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Member of Parliament (MP) for West Portland, Daryl Vaz.In a decision which could trigger a major shift in the country's political landscape, the three-member Court of Appeal Panel will spend the next few months poring over legal and constitutional submissions filed by attorneys for both sides. President of the Appeal Court, Seymour Panton promised that the ruling will be handed down at the earliest possible time in the new term next year. Possible early election Both major political parties are now left to wait anxiously for the ruling. A ruling in favour of Mr. Dabdoub could see the West Portland seat being handed to him which would further reduce the JLP majority in Parliament. A ruling in favour of Mr. Vaz could see the constituents in West Portland casting ballots in a by-election. But there are other dual citizenship cases awaiting the ruling and the country could end up going back to the polls to settle the controversy. Prime Minister Bruce Golding had warned that he would be calling a general election if Mr. Dabdoub prevailed in his appeal. US citizenship Over the past week, Mr. Dabdoub and his attorneys have been trying to convince the Appeal Court that the Chief Justice erred in law when she ruled in April that Mr. Vaz was disqualified to sit as MP due to his US citizenship, yet failed to automatically hand over the seat to him. He claimed that the law and the constitution were both in his favour and the seat should be turned over to him. According to Mr. Dabdoub, Mr. Vaz was not duly nominated due to his dual citizenship status. But Mr Vaz's attorneys countered these arguments and claimed that the Chief Justice was wrong when she ruled that Mr. Vaz should be disqualified as MP. They contend that Mr. Vaz got his US citizenship through his American mother and is therefore protected by the law and the constitution to remain as MP. According to them, his US citizenship was involuntary and they insist he did not give an oath of allegiance to the US. At the appeal hearing both sides argued that the votes cast should not be thrown away as this could be interpreted as a violation of voters' rights The Appeal Court will now wrestle with whether to give the green light for a by-election or give Mr. Dabdoub the seat. |