Last week, we told you about the UDP's challenge to Bernard Wagner's candidacy in the Municipal Elections, which are 2 days away.
Wagner is seeking a second term as the Mayor of the Belize City Council, but the UDP thinks that he should be disqualified from running in the election because he lives in Los Lagos - which is outside City limits.
The Belize City Council Act says quote, "No person shall be eligible for election as a member of the Council… who… has not ordinarily resided in Belize City for at least one year immediately preceding the date of the election." End quote.
The litigants, Michael Peyrefitte and Melborne Wade Jr. have filed an election petition in an attempt to get him disqualified.
This afternoon, Justice Sonya Young presided over the first virtual hearing on this matter, and she heard from Orson "OJ" Elrington, who is representing the UDP. Before the matter could begin in earnest, Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith and Hector Guerra raised formal complaints before the court that their clients, Bernard Wagner and Chief Elections Officer Josephine Tamai, were not properly served with the documents for this lawsuit. He urged the court to consider his view that because of this procedural error, the UDP's case should not be entertained.
Later on in the hearing, Justice Sonya Young told the litigants that according to the law, election petitions are not allowed to take place before an election has occurred.
After those matters were discussed in detail, the hearing came to a close, and the judge adjourned this case until April 19th. Bernard Wagner was at court to listen in on the teleconference hearing, and when the press approached him for an interview on the topic, he declined. Here's that moment right after:
His attorney, Hector Guerra, was more forthcoming, and in a teleconference interview this evening, he discussed why the UDP's case was put on pause. Here's what he told us:
The applicants in this matter have to pay court costs for the respondents in the sum of $1,500. As we told you, the next hearing for this election petition will take place on April 19th. We'll be there to tell you what happens.
