CCJ dismisses appeal in DLP “treating case”2014 election
In a judgment released today, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) dismissed the appeal in the matter of Roosevelt Skerrit & Ors [others] v Antoine Defoe & Ors [2021] CCJ 4 (AJ) (DM) and affirmed the order of the Court of Appeal reinstating the Magistrate’s summonses for the appellants to appear to answer the election charge of treating.
The Court heard the appeal on 10 December 2020.
The case arose out of events leading up to general elections held in Dominica on 8 December 2014. The Dominica Labour Party (“DLP”) led by Mr Roosevelt Skerrit won the majority of the seats in the House of Assembly and so formed the new government
Senior Counsel Anthony Astaphan has warned that there will be fallout from a Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruling in a 2014 Dominica election treating case.
The Dominica Attorney believes the CCJ decision will have grave consequences for future polls in his native country.
But Astaphan also feels it will impact other countries in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
Shortly before the elections, the DLP held two free public concerts in Roseau. Three members of the United Workers’ Party (“UWP”) who had been defeated at the polls alleged that Mr Skerrit and the other elected DLP members committed the election offence of “treating” contrary to section 56 of the House of Assembly (Elections) Act Cap 2:01 (“the Elections Act”), by hosting those concerts.
The UWP members claimed that the DLP members aimed to corruptly influence the public to vote for the DLP. The law in Dominica is that a person convicted of treating is disqualified from sitting in the House of Assembly and cannot run for elections for seven years.
As a result, they filed criminal complaints and a Magistrate subsequently issued summonses against Prime Minister Skerrit and the other elected DLP members.
The DLP MPs challenged that and were successful at the High Court, but the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court overturned the decision.
They argued that the Magistrate lacked the authority to issue the summonses because the offence of treating concerned the validity of the election, and only the High Court could decide this question.
The High Court decided in favour of Mr Skerrit and his colleagues, ruling that the summonses were invalid. The UWP members appealed to the Court of Appeal.
By a majority, the Court of Appeal found in favour of the UWP members. The court decided that the Elections Act created a summary criminal process and gave the Magistrate power to try and convict any person for treating. That power did not intrude on the power of the High Court to rule on questions of the validity of elections and thereby the membership of the House of Assembly.
However, the senior attorney felt that any political party that loses an election could now decide to file three, four, five criminal complaints against each of the successful Members of Parliament.
According to Astaphan, the matter can then drag on for years in the Magistrate’s Court, the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council.
The Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) quoted Astaphan as saying that it opens the door for winning election candidates to be targeted and persecuted.
“I think every political leader in the OECS and CARICOM needs to be fully advised of the consequences of that decision,” he said.
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