PM Ingraham on the Election Court’s Ruling:
LISTEN NOW – Remarks by FNM Leader, Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham
CLICK TO READ JUSTICES Anita Allen and Jon Isaacs ruling
THE PRIME MINISTER: We were surprised by the reasoning for the decisions of the Election Court. It is outside anything we have known up to now as to the meaning of our law…It is our purpose and intent to ensure that orderly, fair and predictable elections are held in The Bahamas.
Speaking for myself, it has never entered my head that in The Bahamas, it is possible for someone who is not registered to vote, who has no voter’s card, whose name is not on a voters list, to be able to show up on election day and vote – I never knew that was possible in The Bahamas.
I never knew it was possible in The Bahamas for me to be registered in one constituency, move to another constituency, do not transfer my voter’s card, show up with a voter’s card that says I am in the other constituency, or [show up] with a driver’s license actually, and have my vote cast and my vote counted – I never knew that was possible in The Bahamas.
Would someone please boot those who would only listen to political spin and not pay any mind to THE CONSTITUTION that courts listen to arguments and evidence in support and to the contary and then make decisions (ie. witness Pinewood, Marco City). Please be as objective as you were at those rulings as the same Justices were involved. All that I would have heard thus far is persons who have issues with a well thought out conclusionersons, with no political ax to grind and would want their decision to be viewed by future juris to be based in LAW=the rule of evidence. To see otherwise is to accuse yourself of being the most myopic of beings.
Taylor & Abby, please obtain a copy of the judges ruling for a clearer understanding as to why the judges ruled in the way they did.
Again Truth, you were right on all of your questions, yes it is the Parliamentary Registry’s fault, it’s their job to make sure that every voter is not disenfranchised, every work day of their lives they should be working to keep the registry up to date, What do they do, when there is no election anyway?, Truth get over it, and move on man.
ABBY FINALLY SOMEONE WITH SENSE AND WHO IS NOT BIAS like 99.99% of persons on this site. RYAN wouldve ultimately won by ONE vote. ONLY THREE VOTES was debatable. The OTHER TWO SHOULDVE been X out. If you ask me the blame should be put on Errol Bethel to a small extent, Hubert Ingraham AND Perry G. Christie. last time I thought in 2007 Perry Christie didnt give the registrar sufficient time to PROPERLY perform their jobs. Hubert manipulated this election and shouldve made sufficient time to correct the registrar but the argument remains that the BYE-ELECTIONS must be a certain time frame. So The Registrar must work with the already problematic REGISTAR in 2007 and add on YOUNG VOTERS and Voters who have moved to this registry in a SHORT TIME SPAN. SO YOU MEAN TO TELL ME ITS THE PARLIAMENTARY REGISTRY FAULT that A VOTER didnt give the parliament registry correct information? Is it the Registry fault that VOTERS DIDNT look at the NEWSPAPERS to make sure their name was on the list and had more than a week to properly INFORM the registry?IS IT THE REGISTRY fault that persons dont know which CONSTITUENCY THEY ARE IN? Is it Registry fault that they was rushed in 2007 and 2010 by Perry and Hubert?…… The JUDGES DECISION does not seem right at all but I am not going to lie I though Ryan would’ve won mind you BUT ONLY BY ONE VOTE if they counted all three of THE VALID VOTES.
Right on Russel, Bahaminas have to read more and enlighten themselves rather than accepting the spin of ignorant politicians. If they took the time to read the ruling which was well witten and excellently reasoned, they would see that the FNM conceded otes which meant that the best Sands coulddo was to tie. And so they are quarelling about one vote ie whether they should have lost by two or three votes! Certainly the voter who lived in the same house in Elizabeth whose counterfoil was not corrected from Fox Hill to Elizabeth, despite her going to the Parliamentary commissioners office and being given a new card showing she was registered in Elizabethand her name was still not included on the register,certainly the judges had to count that vote. And the vote of the voter who was illegally taken off the register after it closed and whose oath was altered by the Parliarliamentary Commissioner without her consent, surely that had to be counted and so that leaves one vote and that is the voter whose card shows she was registered in Yamacraw but had lived in Elizabeth since 2006, which was not disputed by the FNM. Surely, as the judges said, once she was allowed to vote, they were mandated to determine whther the viote was valid and the test was not whether she was properly registered but whether she was entitled to be properly registered and since there was evidence of that why would they disenfranchise her? Bahamians have to stop listening to lawyers who never practised before the Courts, dont know the law and too ignorant to kno that they dont know. They spin for the ignoramuses out there so that they can repeat the ignorance. Bahamians you have brains, use them. read and be enlightened!
Abby, you are right, this has nothing to do with Ryan, PAPA or Christie, but PC & HAI were the leaders and should have fix this long ago, but really Abby, all you have to do is read the Justices report and everything will come to light for you, the voters were not wrong, any government that is in power should get rid of Errol Bethel, and fix the registry, that is where the problem is, not with the Judges.
First of all let me say that I really didn’t care who won Lizzie…A PLP win does not change anything and an FNM win was more of the same. That being said, lets put politics aside and look at the voter who was NOT on the register and did not present a voters card. I have worked a number of elections, both local government and general, and as Mr. Ingraham stated I never knew that it was legal for a person whose name did not appear on the register, in the counterfoils or have a voter’s card, to vote! If that is allowed, then why do we need a register? In other words I live on a family island, but had I been in Nassau on election day, I could present myself to a polling station, show my passport (which unlike a driver’s license is PROOF of citizenship) and be allowed to vote??? Come on people, leave Papa and Ryan and Christie out of this for a moment and think of the implications of this ruling. There has to be a more organized and structured system than this! Now back to the regular scheduled name calling and petty politics!!
Your taking the statements of PAPA have caused you to make an untrue statement as the Court was satisfied thart the voter who is referred to as Voter F was found to have lived in the Elizabeth constituency from 2006,had voted in the 2007 Gen Elects and having no evidence to refute what she said the Court allowed her vote and ordered the Parliamentary Registrar to place her name on the register for Elizabeth.The Attorney Gen office nor Attorneys for Sands had any evidence to refute her assertion.PAPA was wrong to imply that this lady voted without having a claim of right to do so when on the evidence before the Court the contrary was proved.Listen to what some politicians say but check it out before coming to the wrong conclusions.I suggest that all persons interested in this case collect a copy of the ruling from the Courts or check the website of the Supreme Court to view.
and the doctor operating was none other than Sands himself..lmao
reports coming in that Papa was admitted to PMH late last night to receive a sum of 150 stitches to his rear end as a result of the cut #$% he tote.
Maybe there is blame to go around to all. But lets be fair. OK the law did not provide for Bethel to remove the voter after the register had closed. The law also does not allow for the voter to have voted in a constituency where he did not reside. It should have been a challenged vote and the voter if he chose to swear and vote should have been arrested. (This can still happen- this voter committed fraud).The justices can’t have it both ways. At the beginning of the hearing it was agreed by all parties concerned that the scope of the case would be limited, yet the justices in their ruling determined that they are not obligated to stay within section Section 69(4), and 58 a,b,c,. Voter F should not have been allowed to vote at all, and the justice’s ruling can’t make it Legal. All they are doing is instructing the Parliamentary Commissioner, to further break the law, by adding people to a Constituency Register, when it has been proven in court that these people do not live in the Constituency. The Parliamentary Elections Act provides for people to be limited to vote by Constituency and by Polling divisions, it is that precise. It is upon that basis that a person’s residence can be challenged.There is no hogwash, as presented by Brave Davis, as one Register of The Bahamas.There is alot more. I am disappointed in this ruling as these are supposed to be learned people. It would be okay to accept any ruling by the court as long as it is logical. This must be upheld or struck down at the Privy Council Level, as this case was the first of its kind in the Bahamas, and will therefore set the precedence.
So goes Haiti, so goes the FNM…. If ya hands mix up in foolishness and Perry shouts the ‘devil is a liar” dog eat ya lunch buddie… Overall this is a win for democracy. After all of that monies that were spent, the peoples voices were worth more than money…
Papa is a disgrace, he attacked the judgement of the learned Justices and clearly has not read the law. He saw nothing wrong with Errol Bethel’s performance and now wants to say the man did his job. Well, he clearly broke the law when he romoved a voter’s name from the Register after the writ of elections had been filed. Read the law Papa and stop spinning. You have egg on your face, you say you never lost an election, I wonder what happened in 2002. You was the PM on May 2, 2002 and not Tommy. That was your beating Papa and you got the otherone Feb 16, 2010. I cry shame on you to excite those red Shirted brigades talking foolishness about a higher court, when you know you lost fair and square. Your time has come and gone Papa. See ya.
The rubbish uttered by PAPA is just political tal;k as the ruling of the two Senior Justices is quite clear on the votes allowed.In respect to the voter whom the Presiding Officer for that polling stationed allowe dto vote despite not having a voters card or being on the register was determined to be valid since the voter got the nod to do so.Other evidence determined that this voter did in fact live in Lizzy.PAPA must learn to get all of his facts straight before he utters nonsense.Election Court cases are not appealable so if the FNM are going to try a futile appeal they better use their parties funds and not our Treasury money,.
shut up russell johnson!
Wow another airhead.my my, my.At least you have more than one name on this site but the thoughts are still the same.I see why you support PAPA as birds of a feather flock together.
Truth, Stop repeating HAI’s horse****, Truth, every part of the governmental system has a job to do, when the governing party wants to cheat and teif an election,….thank god for an election court, I can not believe, how the FNM party can not stand the our legal court system, the courts are the last line of defense for justice, stop acting naive, you are not a judge, you are ignorant to the facts on the ground, the judges analyzed both arguments and Brave won, did you analyze the case in totality, Truth, stop typing fool, you like to act like you are for Ryan being elected, and you are not, I would welcome a public debate on some of these issues with you, you never criticize Hubert’s stupid decision, and giving away and destruction of our resources, but you got a hard one for PC, be fair, “PAPA Is A Broken Man”.
Guys dont cut my head off now but I really feel that the judges decision to COUNT TWO OF THOSE VOTES was fair at all. Dont get me wrong, I expected Ryan to win by ONE VOTE. The reason why I stand firmly that the two votes shouldn’t count is because they didnt vote with proper identification and the next voter was revealed that she was in the WRONG CONSTITUENCY. Now the argument that the FNM is stating that since they didn’t eliminate those two votes more than likely they didn’t properly and fairly scrutinize the THREE DEBATABLE VOTES. I’m no fan of elections in the court but I did buy Ryan’s dilemma and now i do buy FNM dilemma. But In all seriousness the people of Elizabeth need a active MP. So lets Give RYAN a chance. There’s is a NEED to go to ELECTION COURTS BUT THE PEOPLE NEED A FULL LEADER til 2012.
The CFonstitution is clear when it comes to elections,all votes must be counted.There is no appeal on election Court cases so the foolishness about review can only hold water if PAPA wants to have another REFERENDUM.The man/woman used a drivers licence and you are saying that is not proper identification?The Govt has sour grapes and should accept the lose without rancour as after all its the the precursor of whats to come in the Gen Elects.And the Govt needs to stop wasting our money and get on with governing.
Anyone notice the Guardian’s editorial today? Ms Dames is calling for the resignation of Earl Bethel. Its about time someone in the media publicly called for it. Sadly, this wont be enough for him to actually resign!
Only in the Bahamas can civil servants do crap and there are no consequences.
Come nahh Pappa that’s just one vote out five you fussing about. Give the PLP some credit man.
They Gat Ryan Pinder, Kendal Major, Alex Storr, Delroy Meadows, Andrew Burrows all young bloods and young guns. What you’ll think was gonna happen? This a new PLP pappa. Watch out!
@ wonder woman it’s amazing the mentality no one is crying over one vote it is the principal. If we take time out to see facts instead of party our views will be so much different. We as a people need to educate ourselves. Putting every political party aside we are firstly Bahamians. If you took the time out to listen and not be so quick to ridicule you would see that what is been said are facts. We have just made a mockery of the electoral process and this whole nonsense has left us the Bahamian people 75% responsible for paying a bill we should have never encountered. It is what it is and it’s obvious the Free National Movement takes its defeats and move on. It is a travesty though the ways things were done and the bottom line is the only way to rectify the wrongs is to bring it to light and educate our people on what are facts. So Papa is not broken, he is a man who has vision, who leads not follows and has done well for this country if you want to admitt what are facts or not.
New PLP, that what they were sating in 2002 and look at what the country got.
You are so right just look at what the country got,a Govt that has destroyed the environment especially Saunders Beach,fired Bahamians stopped cancelled and reviewed and on whose watch Murder and other serious crimes have skyrocketed.Are you related to bahamasyouth?You seem to have the same DNA and everyone is aware that he fled after getting the boot so many times.You are so boring so you better have other good credentials or we are going to be punished with the same stick that encompasses you.”ignorance”.
this 2010 love if you keep lookin back u ga buckup we know what we got now look at what we get pappa prime minister is his time nah what he says goes except for this case pick up yaself brush off and come agian general election is around the corner the seat didnt never belong to pappa they conspired to take the seat albeit legally they lost new or old they lost to the cat with 9 lives
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