JAMAICA: DUAL NATIONAL MP NOT ELIGIBLE TO SERVE IN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KINGSTON 000310

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

WHA/CAR FOR JTILGHMAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL CACS CPAS JM XL
SUBJECT: JAMAICA: DUAL NATIONAL MP NOT ELIGIBLE TO SERVE IN
PARLIAMENT

REF: A. 07 KINGSTON 1336

B. KINGSTON 280

C. 07 KINGSTON 1389

D. KINGSTON 245

Summary
--------------


1. (SBU) In the afternoon of April 11, Chief Justice Zaila
McCalla of the Supreme Court announced her judgment in the
first case of election petitions filed alleging that an
elected Member of Parliament (MP) had been improperly
nominated; as he had sworn allegiance to a foreign power.
The case was brought to the courts by Abe Dabdoub of the
People's National Party (PNP),who lost the race for the West
Portland seat to the Jamaica Labour Party's Daryl Vaz.
McCalla citing numerous cases of common law, and ruled that
although Daryl Vaz acquired U.S. citizenship through his
American mother as a minor, his subsequent renewals of his
U.S. passport and the act of traveling extensively using the
U.S. passport showed voluntary allegiance to the U.S. She
further stated that, although the PNP legal team had
requested Dabdoub be instated as MP, she was unable to
disenfranchise the voters who had not had sufficient evidence
that Vaz was ineligible for Parliament. Therefore she ruled
there must be a by-election to determine a new representative
for the West Portland constituency.

Daryl Vaz
--------------


2. (SBU) Daryl Vaz was born in Jamaica on December 15, 1963.
His father Douglas Vaz is Jamaican, and a former MP himself.
His mother Sonia Vaz was born in Puerto Rico and a U.S.
citizen. Shortly after Vaz's birth in Jamaica, his mother
registered his birth abroad at U.S. Embassy Kingston.
Daryl's first foray into representational politics came at
the age of 19 when he was elected councillor for the Waterloo
division of the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) in

1981. After just one term in local government, he walked
away from politics. Vaz moved to Florida and pursued a
degree at Miami Dade Community College. After his studies,
Vaz got involved in the automotive sales industry and
remained a businessman until his return to politics for last
year's national elections, when he won the popular vote for
West Portland over the PNP's Dabdoub by a total of 6,977 )
6,063 (Ref A).


3. (U) Vaz's popularity in Portland began before the
September 2007 elections. He assisted the JLP campaign in
East Portland in 2003 during local elections. Then eyeing an
eroding lead in the PNP's performance in recent elections in
West Portland, he prepared to make his grand return to active
politics. He made his home in West Portland, and distributed
over 4,000 school bags and other school supplies to students
in the district. The 45-year old businessman also helped
with the rehabilitation of a local park and began to preach
about a coming JLP government that would lead a
revitalization of Portland.

Abe Dabdoub champion of election disputes?
--------------


4. (U) Dabdoub's election petition against Vaz was not his
first success in election law. In 1997, then a member of the
JLP himself, he challenged the PNP's Phyllis Mitchell for the
North East St Catherine seat. Initially Mitchell was
declared the winner by a margin of 4,750 to 4,713. However,
Dabdoub rushed to the courts and filed an election petition
claiming that the PNP candidate had benefited from
impropriety in the voting and the court agreed throwing out
several votes for Mitchell and proclaiming Dabdoub the
winner. Shortly after the 2002 general elections he left the
JLP, unhappy with the return of Bruce Golding to the party,
and joined the PNP.

Results of the Supreme Court Case in Dabdoub v. Vaz
-------------- --------------


5. (U) Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Zaila McCalla,
declared the Daryl Vaz was to be disqualified from serving in
Parliament because his nomination had been in violation of
the Constitution of Jamaica. The judge gave a long
explanation, citing numerous cases in common law, for her
decision. However the key point was her determination that
although Vaz had naturalized as a minor involuntarily, by his
own act of renewing U.S. passports and continuing to travel
extensively using the U.S. passport he had demonstrated

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voluntary allegiance to the United States. Since the
Jamaican Constitution in section 42 prohibits anyone who has
sworn an allegiance to a foreign power from being nominated
for Parliament, &he was not qualified to be elected and his
nomination was null and void.8


6. (SBU) Dabdoub was not present during the ruling; his
lawyer stated that his client had a prior commitment and
regretfully could not be present. On the JLP side, Speaker
of the House, Delroy Chuck, sat at the table beside the legal
team of Daryl Vaz. A handful of other JLP faithful were seen
in attendance, along with Vaz and his wife Anne-Marie.
Shortly before the final decision was handed down other JLP
stalwarts were seen in the hallway outside the courtroom,
including Area Council 2 Chairman James Robertson, who poked
his head inside the room long enough to catch the Judge's
proclamation that a by-election should be held to determine
the MP for West Portland. The defense team of Dabdoub was
clearly disappointed in the split decision by Judge McCalla.
Dabdoub and the PNP were pressing for the judge to declare
votes for Vaz to be void and therefore Dabdoub the unanimous
victor in the race. However, McCalla stated that since Chief
of the Election Commission Danville Walker had made at least
two official public statements that all candidates for
Parliament had been duly and legally nominated, the voters
did not have sufficient reason to believe Vaz was not a legal
candidate.

A 42-Day Stay and More Appeals to Come
--------------


7. (U) Legal counsel for both sides expressed an intent to
appeal the decision made by the Supreme Court. The
petitioner (Dabdoub) wishing to be declared the de-facto MP
since the votes for Vaz were made invalid by his
ineligibility to run. The Respondents still maintain that
Vaz,s acts were not evidence of allegiance to the United
States and state that the people have spoken by electing Vaz
in the first place. The PNP legal team also requested a stay
while they prepare their appeal and asked that the judge
defer the by-election until such an appeal can be filed. The
JLP counsel requested that Vaz be allowed to remain in
Parliament until all appeals have been decided. The judge
ruled for a 42-day stay in the case until she can properly
evaluate the requests, and agreed that Vaz should be allowed
to remain in Parliament during the 42-day period.

The Domino Effect
--------------


8. (SBU) The Vaz case is just the first of four cases brought
by the PNP against elected MPs of the JLP claiming
allegiances to foreign powers make their nominations
unlawful. The remaining three cases are against: the second
term MP from St Ann North East, Shahine Robinson; Gregory
Mair in St Catherine North Eastern; and Michael Stern of
Clarendon North Western. Robinson and Stern were both U.S.
Citizens at the time of nomination, but Stern has since
renounced citizenship. Mair is alleged to possess Venezuelan
citizenship; however his legal team won the initial case,
claiming that the petition had been improperly served while
he was sitting in Parliament. (Comment: Among all four
disputed candidates, Shahine Robinson appears to have the
weakest case, since she became a naturalized citizen of the
U.S. as an adult. During her previous term, when the PNP had
a clear majority in Parliament, no one challenged her
citizenship. Also, Ian Hayles, PNP MP for Hanover Western
has publicly admitted that he did not officially renounce his
U.S. Citizenship until after the election, so the PNP has its
own concerns with dual-national MPs. End Comment.)


9. (SBU) Vaz has announced that he will renounce U.S.
Citizenship and prepare to run again for the seat during a
by-election. He called the CDA from the Prime Minister's
office within an hour of the court decision, seeking
information about renouncing his U.S. Citizenship, and was
reffered to the American Citizen Services (ACS) section of
the Embassy and informed the ACS Chief that he would like to
begin the process of renunciation as quickly as possible. In
a press conference after the court decision, fellow JLP MP
James Robinson predicted to the media that the JLP margin of
victory in the by-election will be by 3,000 votes.

Snap Elections or By-Elections?
--------------


10. (SBU) Following the chief Justice's ruling, the
Opposition PNP says it is not hoping for a general election

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this year, but if one is announced, it will put up a strong
showing. In an interview with the Sunday Gleanor Newspaper,
PNP General Secretary Peter Bunting stated, &We are not
clamoring for a general election.8 At least some political
analysts predict the prospect of a series of potential
by-elections may lead Prime Minister Bruce Golding (Ref C) to
call a general election instead. With his support at an
all-time high in public opinion polls, and the Opposition PNP
split into factions and rocked by numerous scandals and
corruption allegations from their previous 18 year reign (Ref
D),a general election may soon be too inviting for the JLP
to forgo.
JOHNSON