ROADTOWN Tortola, BVI, April 18th 2011 - Mr. de Castro, who will be a candidate in the upcoming general elections, alleged according to his interpretation of the Virgin Islands Constitutional Order of 2007 that the two declared National Democratic Party (NDP) candidates Myron Walwyn and Archibald Christian, and the none aligned Claude Skelton-Cline who is planning to run in the second district, are not eligible to contest the 2011 general election in the Virgin Islands.
It is unclear why Mr. de Castro is speaking out so early on this matter when no one has been nominated as yet to formally contest the upcoming general election. His statement also comes on the heels of the Supervisor of Elections Juliette Penn who told VINO last week in an exclusive interview that those who have questions about eligibility of candidates or similar concerns must check the Virgin Islands Constitution Order of 2007, where it clearly states the qualifications and disqualifications for elective members.
“The qualifications are there and the disqualifications are there for persons who may have any questions. For those who want to put themselves up for candidacy, if they are not sure if they qualify or not they should seek legal advice,” the Election Supervisor had told VINO.
Below is a short transcript of portions of the interview VINO had with Mr.de Castro on the subject.
Question: Mr. de Castro you have indicated to VINO that three of the declared candidates, through your interpretation of the Virgin Islands Constitutional Order of 2007, are not eligible to run. Could you please name the three and explain to VINO why you think they are not eligible?
de Castro: The Virgin Islands Constitutional Order of 2007 clearly states the requirements to be eligible to run in the election and I think this is a first for the Virgin Islands because we never had such clearly defined constitutional requirements for holding the office of Member of Parliament in our territory. First you must be a belonger to the country and secondly it speaks to both of your parents being from the Virgin Islands and third it speaks to persons who were born outside of the Virgin Islands but whose grandparents are also from the Virgin Islands. You might say why the legal draftsmen went to such detail and it is my humble belief that the reason is because they wanted to be very clear on the intent of the law.
Drafts people usually refer to the intent of the law when it is not explicit and in my opinion the intent of the law is to safeguard future generations of Virgin Islanders and to protect their rights and I think that it is very clear the candidates so far that have declared their interest in holding office, Myron Walwyn, Archibald Christian and Claude Skelton-Cline, in my opinion, are outside of those parameters. I didn’t mention as well the parameters of the resident requirement. I was very involved in the constitutional review. I went to most of the meetings, the public meetings that were held before 2007, they lasted from 2005 to 2007 and I am actually a little bit concerned that the elections office is not having a pre-qualification meeting that would say to members of the public and to members who intend to run what are the conditions for membership and I don’t see that happening as yet and I think our community has to be vigilant and watchful to ensure that this type of pre-qualification meeting is held and clear the air once and for all.
There is also the constitution that speaks to declaring whether or not you have any pecuniary interest in government services. If you have contracts with government you have to declare them prior to election. These are all election issues and I am glad I have this opportunity to speak to our voting community and abreast them of these requirements.
Question: Let’s take the candidates one by one. Claude Skelton-Cline, on what basis are you claiming/alleging that he is not eligible?
de Castro: There is a five year and a three year residency requirement. The five year residency requirement are people like who are serving in the military and on study leave to other countries and they are given that amount of time for the residency requirement because as you would know a four-year degree would take you four years away from the territory so they are given five years. I think it is a fair assessment. Now other persons, who have been away from here they are given three years and three years to me is a reasonable time of residency to be familiar with the procedures.
Question: So you are saying that Claude Skelton-Cline has not lived in the VI
within the three year requirement period?
de Castro: And this is why I am saying the supervisor of election should determine if the three years is three years living in your house and you have receipts to show that you lived there…you have water, sewerage and electricity receipts or is it just three years that you can be in residence and travelling various places and I think that is the challenge and it should not be a challenge for the general public it should be a challenge for the election office.
Question: Myron Walwyn. Why is he not eligible to run for office?
de Castro: Again I am saying to VINO that the requirement of a belonger status is one of the requirements but there is also the requirement of both your parents or at least one of your parents being a belonger and I don’t think Mr. Walwyn meets that requirement.
Question: Archie Christian?
de Castro: Likewise, he does not meet that requirement.
Question: There are other issues in the election law that speaks to things like bankruptcy etc. Do you care to comment on those?
de Castro: Just by reference. I have a couple of other constitutions as well in my possession and one or two of them are also from territories like Turks and Caicos and Anguilla, which are fairly new constitution and they both have those things already. It is a way of protecting the rights of citizens to proper democratic representation. So bankruptcy shows that you are not really capable of handling your own financial affairs. And serving a prison sentence shows that you are of a caliber maybe not suitable for parliamentary decision making or office so to speak.
Question: Have you discussed your concerns with the three declared candidates, Messers Walwyn, Christian and Skelton-Cline?
de Castro: I have not but I would any day debate it with them and I think that there are a lot of rumors going around saying that the Governor or somebody else has cleared the air for candidacy but that is not possible under the constitution. The only way that you can challenge the constitution is you have to go to court.
Question: So if these three candidates are nominated, then run and win then what? Do you think you would be willing to challenge them before nomination or after?
de Castro: Any voter can challenge them at anytime but the whole difficulty with challenging any of the proposed persons right now is that nomination day has not yet reached and nobody is running for office until you are nominated on nomination day. So we still have to wait on nomination day and we also still have to wait to know when elections are going to be because right now we don’t have a date for election.
VINO’S research
VINO, via its many sources throughout the Virgin Islands and its own legal team, found information on two candidates that contradicted de Castro’s allegations. VINO was able to have a glimpse of the birth certificates for both Mr. Christian and Mr. Walwyn that confirmed they were born in the Virgin Islands before the 2007 Constitutional order came into effect and therefore, would have been eligible to run for political office before 2007. Mr. Christian himself ran two times before.
According to Section 65 of the Virgin Islands Constitution 2007, it states that subject to Section 65 and Section 66, a person shall be qualified to be elected as a member of the House of Assembly if, and shall not be qualified to be so elected unless, he or she (2) was so qualified before the commencement of the 2007 Constitution; or
(b) is a person who (i) is a Virgin Islander of the age of 21 years or upwards and (ii) is otherwise qualified as a voter under section 68.
The Constitution also explains that a Virgin Islander is a person who belongs to the Virgin Islands by birth or decent who was (a) born in the Virgin Islands of a father or mother who at the time of the birth was a British overseas territories citizen (or a British Dependent Territories citizen) by virtue of birth in Virgin Islands or by virtue of descent from a father or mother who was born in the Virgin Islands; (b) born in the Virgin Islands of a father or mother who at the time of the birth belonged to the Virgin Islands by birth or descent or © born outside the Virgin Islands of a father or mother who at the time of the birth belonged to the Virgin Islands by birth or descent.
Both Mr. Walwyn and Mr. Christian could not be reached for comments on Mr. de Castro’s position about their eligibility.
When Mr. Skelton-Cline was contacted he told VINO, “everybody has a right to be wrong” and claimed that he has never heard that criticism about him before.
It is unclear when the young pastor a Virgin Islander, who will be up against second district representative J. Alvin Christopher the representative of the district since 1995, returned to the Territory.
Article taken from Virgin Islands News Online
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