BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – MEMBER of Parliament (MP) and representative for the people of Constituency Number Eight, Eugene Hamilton has emerged victorious and awarded costs in the 2010 Election Petition brought against him by his opposing candidate Cedric Liburd.
On January 24, 2010, General Elections were held in the Federation with both men contesting the Constituency Number Eight seat.
The vote tally showed that Liburd had lost the seat to Hamilton by 31 votes.
Following the election, Liburd filed a petition in the court against Hamilton claiming that he was the owner and holder of United States-issued travel documents which may have disqualified him from being nominated for candidacy.
The petition, according to Liburd, was filed on February 5, 2010 and the matter was heard in July and August of that year. The petition was dismissed by Justice Harry Parshad-Charles on October 13, 2010 and the court ordered that Liburd pay costs to Hamilton.
The High Court’s decision was appealed by Liburd and heard by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court and that matter was heard in May 2011.
Delivered late last week (Dec. 5), the Appeal Court upheld the decision of the lower court and as noted by Hamilton, “I understand they have further dismissed the appeal from the Attorney General and have ordered costs against the Attorney General. I don’t know exactly if the costs apply to both courts. I have been awarded costs against both parties.”
In a statement delivered during the last sitting of the Federal Parliament, Hamilton described Liburd’s petition as “ridiculous”. However, as he explained, throughout the duration of the case, he maintained an attitude of “no surrender, no retreat”.
“…I am glad that the learned Judge in the High Court saw through Cedric Liburd’s charade and on 13th October 2010 she dismissed the Election Petition with costs against Mr. Cedric Liburd… I have won Mr. Speaker. I have not only won; I am the only person in this Parliament that has a certificate to prove that I have won that seat. Certified to the Governor General on October 13th 2010 by Her Ladyship Justice Harry Prashad-Charles and further certified by three Justices of the Court of Appeal.
“Mr. Speaker, I can’t want anything more resounding than that. Four Learned Justices agreeing with me and disagreeing with the government and Cedric Liburd.”
Having been awarded costs, Hamilton expressed that “had good sense rather than politics prevailed”, costs which have been incurred by the government could have been otherwise utilised.
“…In fact, the government would have escaped all costs to me if they had accepted the High Court’s decision. Despite all of the efforts that the government has made and the huge expense that poor people got to pay for it, I am the properly elected representative for Constituency Number Eight as I stand on my feet here today.”
