2nd District representative hinting court challenge?
At a Virgin Islands Party (VIP) meeting in the 2nd District at Meyers at Rudy’s Bar last evening October 24, 2011, 2nd District representative J. Alvin Christopher asked residents to question a particular candidate where he was domiciled in March 2010, stating that persons should not swear that they are qualified to run for office when they know that they are not.
While being careful not to disclose any names, the candidate in question, based on the context of the controversy is 2nd district candidate running under the National Democratic Party (NDP) ticket Claude Skelton Cline.
While Cline is a native Virgin Islander, he has resided in the United States for many years and has recently returned to the Virgin Islands. However, the number of years since his actual return continues to be a controversial issue. The 2007 Constitution requires that a person has to be living in the VI three years before he or she can be eligible to hold office.
“… those same persons who have signed their name today and tell you that they are qualified to speak and sit in the House of Assembly in the next sitting. Ask them where they were domiciled in March of 2010, ask them when they put their name on the voter’s list, affirming that they are now domiciled in the BVI and when they give you those answers,” said Christopher, charging that there are people who returned to the Territory “a year ago and go on radio and national television and call down our people who made a lot of contribution”.
He was at the time speaking of Cline’s criticism of the VIP’s 8th District candidate and Deputy Premier of the Virgin Islands, Dancia Penn QC.
The 2nd district representative further stated that, “you don’t need your 10 fingers just use one hand but don’t cut your figures because you might need half or quarter of a finger because the numbers cannot add up. But they will tell you they are qualified to sit in the House of Assembly. You cannot afford ladies and gentlemen to be deceived by anyone who do not meet the requirements of our Constitution to sit in the House of Assembly”.
Christopher said such actions are “a deception, it’s deceitful, and we should not do that. We should not swear that we are qualified when we know that we are not qualified.”
According to Christopher, domicile in a dictionary has a specific meaning. Speaking about the particular candidate, he further said, “When I sit in the House of Assembly, if I sit there knowing that I am not qualified to sit in the House, which means I sit there illegally how can the laws then that I make be legal to govern you the people of these islands”.
He urged residents that they must put “things in the right prospective” and while not directly calling for a court challenge to Cline’s nomination, he said, “I do believe that those legislation can easily be interpreted by the court because one can’t produce evidence of where one is fixed or means where you are domiciled at a particular time, so come today nomination day, we are signed on to some documents saying that we are qualified, now it is for any voter in this territory to check our record and to make sure that we meet those requirements”.
As of 6 p.m. last evening October 24, 2011, no legal challenge was mounted against any candidate.
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