APNU withdraws request for recount in Mahdia

The Opposition A Partnership for National Unity (ANPU) withdrew its request for a recount in the municipality of Mahdia, Region Eight, according to PPP/C-nominated GECOM Commissioner, Sase Gunraj.

“I was informed that subsequent to that application being made, an application was made to withdraw the recount. As a consequence it did not go forward,” Gunraj told the News Room during an interview on Thursday.

While GECOM has declared the majority of the results of the June 12 Local Government Elections, there were ties in some areas.

Mahdia is one of two towns where APNU and the governing People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) tied. Therefore, they share an equal number of seats.

Based on the results published on GECOM’s website, APNU won two of the four constituencies while the PPP won another two. But in the Proportional Representation portion of the elections, APNU’s 327 votes were lower than the PPP/C’s 330 votes in Mahdia.

This means the PPP won the popular vote in the town and is likely to take the Mayorship.

Ties are catered for in the law.

Based on 2018 amendments to the Local Authorities (Elections) Act, the councillors will engage in up to three rounds of voting to determine the Chairperson or Mayor.

If that fails to determine a Mayor or Chairperson, the clerk is then tasked with calculating the number of votes each Proportional Representation (PR) candidate-turned-councillor attained at the Local Government Elections.

That figure is then assigned to the candidates for Mayor or Chairperson nominated and voted for by the councillors. In these circumstances, those candidates could be either APNU-nominated or a PPP-nominated councillor for Mayor or Chairperson.

The candidate with the highest number of votes will be duly elected the Chairperson or Mayor, meaning the party with the popular vote (that is, a higher number of votes in the Proportional Representation portion) gets the Chairmanship or Mayorship.

And if all of those procedures fail, there is one other way of breaking a deadlock.

And this is by means of the selection of lot by candidates which is done in the presence of a designated Magistrate, to determine the Mayor. It could be as simple as putting names in a bag and pulling out one.