BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – LABOUR candidate for Constituency St. Christopher Five Dr. Norgen Wilson has today (Mar. 22) withdrawn his election petition challenging the nomination and election of Hon. Shawn Richards, his counterpart representing the People’s Action Movement (PAM).
Richards was served the official Notice of Discontinuance at around 1:30 this afternoon, some six weeks after he was served the election petition. The court document, dated March 17, 2010 was also forwarded to the other two respondents: Supervisor of Elections Leroy Benjamin and Presiding Officer for that constituency Dr. Hermia Morton-Anthony.
Though no reason was given for the withdrawal, the three-page document reads, “Take notice that the Petitioner, Dr. Norgen Wilson, hereby discontinues this Petition against the Respondents”.
Wilson, who was unsuccessful in the January 25 Elections, called for the election of Richards to be made null and void on the grounds of having dual citizenship upon being nominated on January 15. Efforts to reach Wilson were futile and attempts were made to contact Jason Hamilton of Hamilton and Company, the attorney representing Wilson in this matter, but were unsuccessful as he was in court.
However, Richards repeatedly scoffed at the election petition calling it a “waste of time from the start”, explaining he had said publicly that he had already renounced his US Citizenship in mid-2009.
“From the very beginning I’ve said that the young man from Sandy Point [Wilson] was wasting his time, was wasting my time, was wasting the court’s time and the public’s time. It would appear as though he has finally come to his senses, and so when I saw the discontinuance notice just now my first reaction was simply to laugh,” Richards told SKNVibes in an exclusive interview.
Richards was adamant that Wilson would have to pay costs to his legal team whom he had already consulted for his defence in this matter.
The election of another PAM candidate, Hon. Eugene Hamilton, was challenged by Labour candidate Cedric Liburd. However, when contacted, Hamilton indicated that he had not been served any Notice of Discontinuance and is unsure of whether he would be.
SKNVibes contacted Liburd, who informed that his matter was of a different nature and that at the moment he had no reason to withdraw his petition. Liburd said though he needs to seek further legal counsel, he would be unwilling to discontinue the legal challenge if the information that he had, at the start of the challenge, remains the same.
Richards’ receipt of the Notice of Discontinuance closes one of three election petitions. The other two, including Hamilton and one by PAM challenging the results in Constituency St. Christopher Four, are expected to be resolved in the High Court.
