The recall petition against UDP leader Shyne Barrow has failed - and the embattled leader lives to fight another day. This is based on a letter that party chairman Mike Peyrefitte wrote to the petition organizer Alberto August today. Peyrefitte tells him that 52 of the 201 signatures he submitted have been rejected. That leaves the petition with 149 signatures; they need at least 172 to trigger the petition - so, Peyrefitte writes, quote, "the petition…does not meet the threshold required to trigger a recall convention."
Peyrefitte spoke to the media via Zoom this afternoon about the signatures that were rejected and whether he believes they were fraudulently obtained:
Michael Peyrefitte, Chairman, UDP
"43 people retracted their support for the petition. About 3 people were not even on the delegates list, a couple of them had resigned. And some of them were signed by alternates and so those were the people who were not qualified to be on the recall petition, in addition to the fact that - well this part did not really matter once we dealt with the retractions and the disqualifications per se - but many pages were filled with signatures indicating no reason as to why those people signed those pages so it's just a blank page that said print your name here and sign here but nothing on the page itself to indicate that it was for a recall petition so those were the things that led the secretariat to conclude that the recall threshold was not met."
Jules Vasquez:
"Were the rescissions or the rescinding of signatures, were they clear as so far we know that some of the signatures were just on blank pieces of paper with no affirmation at the top. Were the rescissions clear in saying that I, blank name, hereby withdraw any signatures affixed to any petition?"
Michael Peyrefitte, Chairman, UDP
"Yes, and I have instructed the Secretary General to provide those to the people who came in to try to meet the threshold for the recall so all the documentation and all the information has been given to them to demonstrate that we didn't make up a figure of 43 retractions, we have evidence of the retractions or we would not have counted them as such."
Jules Vasquez:
"Were people fraudulently induced to sign the petition or to make it seem like they had signed a petition? Was there fraud involved?"
Michael Peyrefitte, Chairman, UDP
"There has been some talk of that but I… the vice chairman and I have many differences but I don't think that the vice chairman, who seemed to be the leader of that process, would do that type of thing and then bring it into the secretariat and then pretend as if though somebody signed a document for a purpose which they didn't know what they were signing for. I find it hard to believe that he would do that."
And while this should be an objective process, is the chairman taking sides by allowing the signatures to be rescinded? We asked him for his comments against criticism that he is being biased in favor of the party leader.
Jules Vasquez:
"Those person who have brought the petition will say that you aren't playing fair that you are in fact hostile to this group of dissidents, if we can use that word, in the party, and that you are sympathetic to the leader Shyne Barrow so you have made a biased determination, the main argument being that the constitution makes no provision for the rescission of signatures that have already been put on a recall petition."
Michael Peyrefitte, Chairman, UDP
"If you want to split hairs you can also say it doesn't make any provision for you to not be able to do it. So, I mean, if you say you want to do something, and then you say I don't want to be a part of that anymore, that's like saying that I have to be a part of whatever I am, if I go and I work at a place, I take a job somewhere, I must keep that job even if I don't want it. I can ask for employment at an establishment and I can change my mind and say I don't want to work here anymore. People can change their minds for whatever reason they want to change their minds."
Jules Vasquez:
"You will be accused of foul play in this, they will say, you're working on Shyne Barrow's agenda and you're an instrument of the leader and we know this because your decision lines up squarely with the statement he put out yesterday. You're a pawn in Shyne Barrow's arsenal, that's what your critics will say."
Michael Peyrefitte, Chairman, UDP
"I have critics that have said worse than that and it doesn't make any difference to me. It's a simple thing, politicians always say that politics is a numbers game. It wasn't rocket science, it wasn't something to figure out, and people keep saying decision, no decision had to be made like that required any deliberation or subjective anything, it was very simple, we have a formula that must be satisfied if you want to recall the party leader."
We asked vice chairman, Alberto August, who had handed in the petition on Friday, for a comment. He said that they will be addressing the public either through a press release or a press conference. At newstime, neither has been forthcoming. We do know that those on the side of the petitioners claim that the emails resigning signatures of those 43 delegates have been somehow forged. Don't expect the finger pointing and recriminations to stop anytime soon...
