NEW YORK - The main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) says it is optimistic about winning the legal battle it has started to unseat the ruling New National Party (NNP) in Grenada.

Senior NDC officials told a public meeting here last weekend that the party would not abandon its efforts to unseat the government of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell.

NNP won a slender one-seat majority in last November's general election and the NDC has filed an election petition challenging the results of one of the constituencies in which the party's candidate lost by less than 10 votes.

"We're committed to fight the fight," said NDC's Deputy Political Leader George Prime, who was flanked on stage by senior NDC members, including party leader Tillman Thomas, a lawyer.

"We're not going to sit back and allow it to happen," added Prime, referring to speculation that the party might rescind its appeal in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Court of Appeal.

Prime, a lawyer, who narrowly lost the Carriacou and Petite Martinique constituency to Foreign and Legal Affairs Minister Elvin Nimrod by just seven votes, has blamed widespread "irregularities" on the election day.

"I accept defeat, but I can't accept dishonorable defeat. We, of the Congress (NDC) have filed the petition because there were certain irregularities," he said, listing missing ballots and an unofficial recount among the "irregularities".

"Had those irregularities not taken place, the NDC would have been in office today."

Earlier this month, the NDC filed an appeal against a High Court ruling challenging the results of the Carriacou/Petite Martinique constituency, stating that more than a dozen supporters were also denied their voting franchise.

"After analyzing the case in its entirety, we are of the view that the trial judge missed some tremendous points raised by our (legal) team," Prime said.

"We had no choice but to challenge the ruling."

Justice Charmaine Pemberton discarded the opposition petition on technical grounds, ruling that the NDC had filed the petition outside of the time stated in law.

The NNP has also filed petitions in the High Court challenging the results of the elections in two constituencies - St. George South, where it lost by over 300 votes, and St. Patrick's East, where it was defeated by 44 votes.

But NDC lawyer Lloyd Noel described the NNP tactics as a smokescreen, stating that it is a "strategy and nothing else; they don't have a case".


SOURCE: CARIBUPDATE.COM