Leader of the Opposition Dr Godwin Friday is asking why, if the Unity Labour Party (ULP) government firmly believes it is a duly elected administration, is it doing all in its power to frustrate the process of trial for the two election petitions filed by New Democratic Party (NDP) candidates Benjamin Exeter and Lauron Baptiste following the elections in December 2015.
\nDr. Friday posed the question on Wednesday as the NDP held a press conference at the headquarters.
\nDr. Friday said he was deeply dissatisfied that the matter is still before the court.<\/p>\n
“It has been three years since general elections were held the petitions filed. Yet the matter has not been resolved in the court. We deplore the fact that after three years, the people of this country still do not know whether the government was duly elected and is legitimate.
\nHow can you know?” Dr. Friday said.<\/p>\n
Dr. Friday said it cannot be acceptable in a modern society the manner in which the matters are being dealt with.
\n“The petitions could have been decided a long time ago if the parties on the other side, that is; the respondents in the petitions had shown any interest, or willingness, in having them decided by the court once and for all. Instead, they have sought to delay and drag the cases out as long as possible,” Dr. Friday said.
\nSpeaking about the adjournment of the trial scheduled for Monday-Friday this week to February 11th – March 2019, Dr. Friday said he was “very dissatisfied and the entire NDP is dissatisfied”
\n“Why? What do they have to hide? Why put up such a desperate fight to prevent the petitions from being tried before the judge if they have nothing to hide?” He asked.
\nDr. Friday added: “The people have a right to ask these questions. And I hope that even those persons who may have voted for the governing party will ask these questions themselves.
\n“This is what people are asking. As I walked through Kingstown yesterday and this morning, that is the question. What do they have to hide? If you say that you had free and fair elections, demonstrate it and let’s move on.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Leader of the Opposition Dr Godwin Friday is asking why, if the Unity Labour Party (ULP) government firmly believes it is a duly elected administration, is it doing all in its power to frustrate the process of trial for the two election petitions filed by New Democratic Party (NDP) candidates Benjamin Exeter and Lauron Baptiste<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","category-headlines","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"\n