Update | PNP's application for magisterial recount in Mavis Bank division was filed too late, attorney

Attorney for the Jamaica Labour Party, Georgia Hamilton, says the People's National Party's application for a magisterial recount in the Mavis Bank division in St Andrew was not filed in time. 

The Gleaner has learnt that the PNP's application was filed on March 6 by the law firm Jordan & Francis. 

Under the law, applications for a recount should be filed within four days of the final count. The final results were issued by the Electoral Office of Jamaica on February 28. 

PNP general secretary, Dr Dayton Campbell, had stated that the application was withdrawn because the party's lawyers assessed that it was unlikely there would be a change in the election result.

However, Hamilton took issue with that account.

"Having read the news report and the assertion of Mr Dayton Campbell, I felt compelled to reach out to The Gleaner to set the record straight. The fact is that the recount in the Mavis Bank division was filed out of time, and the court would have no jurisdiction to proceed with the said recount irrespective of the PNP's assessment of the potential outcome of a magisterial recount," Hamilton said.

Hamilton added: "In fact, in the face of the court raising concerns about whether it had any jurisdiction to undertake the recount, the PNP actually made an ex parte application trying to convince the court that it could proceed with the recount. However, the authorities are quite clear that the requirement to file the application for a recount within four days of the final count goes to jurisdiction, and it is not merely a procedural issue."

However, attorney for the PNP, Michael Jordan insists the matter was not dismissed, but withdrawn by the PNP. He said while the application was filed late, the PNP was prepared to make legal arguments to have the recount undertaken, as had been done in similar circumstances in the Rae Town division in 2016.

He said the decision not to proceed was taken after a meeting by the PNP team.

The JLP's Lloyd Benjamin won that division with 1,282 votes over the PNP's Paul Meek with 1,261 votes.

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