The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

IF the FNM candidates for South Beach and Central and South Eleuthera win their respective seats in the upcoming general election, the DNA will challenge their wins in court.

Yesterday, DNA Mt Moriah candidate Wayne Munroe once again questioned the nomination validity of South Beach's Monique Gomez and Eleuthera's Howard Johnson and spoke on "millions of dollars" in court fees and by-election costs.

Mr Munroe explained that the FNM's "utter incompetence" and "stunning inactivity" in addressing the allegations facing their candidates will be to blame for the imminent by-elections and court action.

Ms Gomez put the incorrect year on one of the three forms gazetted last month. The contested form, the Declaration of Qualification, was dated April 16, 2011 instead of 2012.

Mr Munroe previously explained: "The law is quite clear, you should not be validly nominated unless your forms are not only made, but dated not more than 90 days before nomination day."

Yesterday, he said the FNM still will not admit Ms Gomez "did not do what was necessary to be properly nominated. (They) would prefer for the Bahamian public to bear a financial burden of millions of dollars in an unnecessary court case and an unnecessary by-election in South Beach, regardless of which way the results go.

"There is only one way that a by-election will be avoided in South Beach and that is if Ms Monique Gomez loses and the extent of her losing is so great that if you added all of her votes to the second place person it would not add up to more than the first place person."

Mr Johnson may not be eligible to sit in the House on grounds of residency. According to Mr Munroe, Mr Johnson filed for the dissolution of his marriage in Florida last year as a resident of the US.

Mr Johnson's nomination form was dated April 16, 2012 and his US petition for the dissolution of marriage, which declared he was a Florida resident, was dated August 13, 2011.

According to article 47 (b), persons eligible for membership in the House must be at least 21 years old and ordinarily resident in the country for at least one year immediately before the date of nomination.

Mr Munroe said "it appears abundantly clear" in Mr Johnson's US divorce proceedings, his residence is the US.

"He (Mr Johnson) said up until August 2011 he was resident in Broward County in South Florida, its repeated again in his affidavit on November 1, 2011," Mr Munroe said. "And then in April, less than six months later he swears that he is eligible to be elected to Parliament in the Bahamas which oath requires him to implicitly and explicitly swear that he has been resident in the Bahamas for 12 months before that date.

"He imposes on us time and expense because in South Eleuthera, again, there will be expenses related to court and expenses related to a by-election. Millions of dollars that could have been spent on the health and welfare of the Bahamian people. It is absolutely obscene."