General secretaries of the People's National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) yesterday declined to divulge details of a recent meeting held between the two parties to discuss the controversial dual citizenship issue.

Those in attendance at last Friday's meeting were the parties' two general secretaries and other senior officers.

"We had discussions around that issue (dual citizenship)," Peter Bunting, general secretary of the PNP, told The Gleaner yesterday, adding that the discussions were "rather exploratory".

"We are not any stage to discuss anything (and) we can't have this discussion in the press," said the general secretary.

Meanwhile, Karl Samuda, general secretary of the JLP, said there was nothing to report at this time.

"I'd rather not comment," he told The Gleaner when contacted yesterday.

Election petition

Abe Dabdoub, the defeated PNP candidate for West Portland, had brought an election petition against JLP Member of Parliament (MP) Daryl Vaz, claiming that he was ineligible to sit in Gordon House because he had sworn allegiance to the United States (US).

The court, in April, ruled that Vaz was not qualified to be an MP by way of his US citizenship and ordered a by-election in the constituency.

However, Dabdoub last Wednesday filed an appeal against Chief Justice Zaila McCalla's April 11 ruling that a by-election be held in the constituency to determine the next MP.

A day later, Vaz filed a surprising appeal in the Court of Appeal, seeking to overturn the April 11 court ruling which ousted him from Parliament.

Vaz polled 944 votes more than Dabdoub in the general election and was declared the MP. Dabdoub, however, said he should have been declared the MP as Vaz has been found not to be qualified to be elected to the House of Representatives.

Mair's seat under threat

Meanwhile, PNP caretaker for St Catherine North Eastern, Phyllis Mitchell, last Friday received the green light from the Court of Appeal to challenge Gregory Mair's eligibility to sit in Parliament.

The ruling places another JLP seat under threat, presenting the potential for the Government's narrow four-seat margin to be even further reduced and for an early general election to be called.

Mitchell is expected to pursue an election petition in the Supreme Court in an attempt to establish that Mair was a Venezuelan citizen when he contested the September 3 national poll.

There are three other election-petition cases before the courts, two of which are alleging dual citizenship.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com