Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Danville Walker

DIRECTOR OF Elections Danville Walker has taken People's National Party (PNP) General Secretary Donald Buchanan and Harry Douglas, its candidate for South East St. Mary, to task, for a statement accusing his office of "malpractice".

Mr. Walker yesterday described the tone of the statement, issued Monday, as "unfortunate".

"They said the candidate (Mr. Douglas) was aware that (ballot) boxes were missing. I don't know who those complaints were made to, but they were not made to the returning officer or any of my staff at the EOJ (Electoral Office of Jamaica)," Mr. Walker told The Gleaner. "That statement implies that we would wilfully have those boxes and not count them."

Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Douglas questioned the validity of the result in South East St. Mary in the September 3 general election. They argued that two boxes containing ballots of security forces and election-day workers were missing.

Mr. Douglas, the incumbent, was declared winner by the EOJ on election night but the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Tarn Peralto was declared the victor by 34 votes, two days later, following a recount.

In a statement issued to the media yesterday afternoon, Mr. Walker said the EOJ "took full responsibility for the two uncounted ballot boxes containing votes of election-day workers in St. Mary South Eastern who voted on August 28."

Mr. Walker said 282 boxes were sent out for the military, police and election-day workers and 282 boxes were returned to the EOJ's Duke Street offices.

"The two boxes in question arrived with the 282 boxes without the keys to open them and while waiting for a tool to cut the locks, we proceeded to count other boxes," Mr. Walker said. "We did not complete counting the remaining boxes until after 2:00 a.m. and inadvertently stored these uncounted boxes with the counted boxes."

Observers

He said the receiving, opening, sorting and counting of all ballots from election-day workers, police and military was observed by two members of the PNP and two members of the JLP. He said they were all of the view that all boxes had been opened, sorted and counted.

"We regret the inconvenience and disquiet that our mistake has caused and apologise. We assure the public that this was not intentional or done to favour any candidate."

In his statement earlier yesterday, Mr. Buchanan also claimed the PNP had received several reports of "malpractice" in constituencies on election day, including some won by the PNP.

The general secretary demanded that ballots from the two boxes be included in yesterday's magisterial recount at the Port Maria Courthouse. This request was denied by Resident Magistrate Sara James-Thompson.

( L - R ) Peralto, Douglas