Defeated MMM candidates withdraw electoral petition

In a major development before the Supreme Court On Tuesday 15 March, three candidates of the opposition MMM said they were withdrawing the petition to contest their defeat at the 2019 general elections.

The three candidates of constituency No.1, namely Ariane Navarre-Marie, Veda Baloomoody and Louis Giovanni Catherine, have withdraw their electoral petition.

This is what their lawyers reportedly told judges Benjamin Marie Joseph and Mohana Naidoo.

According to Defi Media, Mr Glover announced that he had received the instructions from his clients “late last night (Monday night)”.

The judges acceded to the request in the absence of any objection.

The three defeated MMM candidates had filed a petition seeking a recount of votes in their constituency on suspicion that these could have been rigged.

The rationale behind the latest move, according to Mrs Navarre-Marie, was the fact that polls from Constituency No.1 were discovered in constituency No.19 (Stanley/Rose-Hill) during an earlier recount. Some 74 ballots had already gone missing.

“So, if the ballot paper, which was in our favour, was found there, it is highly probable that more ballot papers could have disappeared from No.1. The whole exercise then becomes useless,” he said.