ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (GIS) — An attempt to stop Grenada’s first referendum since independence from taking place on Thursday has been dismissed.

A high court judge on Tuesday refused an application by attorney Jimmy Bristol, acting on behalf of Valerie Thompson Duncan.

The application, filed by Henry, Henry and Bristol on behalf of Thompson Duncan, sought to stop the constitutional reform referendum on the grounds that it violated sections of the Referendum Act.

In her affidavit, she listed 18 alleged breaches that were all dismissed by Judge Wyante Adrien-Roberts.

Chairman of the Constitutional Review Commission (CRAC), Dr Francis Alexis QC, said the court had no hesitation in ruling that the writs were adequately published.

“You can attach bills to writs when the governor general is sending them to the supervisor of elections as a matter of practicality and common sense,” Alexis told journalists.

“You cannot do that when you are printing it in the newspaper. So it is a woeful misconception to be making noise around the country that the bills were not attached to the writs in the newspapers. It was always entirely devoid of merit and we are gratified that the court made the point.”

A key argument advanced for the claimant by Bristol was that a certain form in the Referendum Regulations requires that the actual date of the referendum be on the referendum ballot paper, or else the referendum is invalid.

That argument, said Alexis for the supervisor of elections, was a complete misreading by Bristol of what is a very simple form. Alexis took the court through a detailed and methodical examination of the form to show that the form has three distinct components, namely, the ballot paper, the counterfoil to the ballot paper, and the stub to which the ballot paper is attached.

The date to which Bristol was referring, Alexis pointed out, is not on the ballot paper, the ballot paper being clearly defined by the law as being the sheet of paper on which a voter votes to approve or not approve a constitutional amendment bill. Instead, the date is on the stub to which the ballot paper is attached, and that stub is not visible to any voter.

Therefore, Alexis reasoned, there is absolutely no merit whatsoever in the submission by Bristol that a date has to be on the ballot paper.

On Alexis taking the court through that form, Bristol told the presiding judge that, given that explanation, he was abandoning the claim that the referendum date has to be on the ballot paper. Bristol accordingly withdrew that argument.

SOURCE: Grenada GIS