[41] Mr. Mendes submitted that the evidence on late voting is of no moment because it is plain that the question of persons voting after 6:00pm was not pleaded at all in the St George (Jonas) petition. In response, Mr. Guthrie insisted that the issue was raised in paragraphs 8.2, 8.3 and 8.4 of the Jonas petition. Mr. Mendes asked this court to note that paragraph 8.2 of that petition simply states the times between which the polls should be opened. Paragraph 8.2 of that petition states as follows: “The Election Rules scheduled to the Act provide that in the case of a general election, polling shall take place between the hours of 6am and 6pm.” [42] Mr. Mendes further noted that paragraphs 8.3 and 8.4 of the St. George (Jonas) petition only pleads material facts or allegations on the late opening of the polls. He insisted that they make no allegation of persons voting or joining the lines at the polls after 6:00pm. Paragraphs 8.3 and 8.4 state as follows: “8.3. On the day of the election none of the polling stations in the Petitioner’s constituency of St. George opened at 6 a.m. and in some cases did not open for several hours, until 8 a.m. The polls in the three constituency polling districts only opened as follows: Polling station A (New Winthorpes) opened at 8;50am. Polling station B (Pigotts) opened at 8:30 a.m. Polling station C (Potters) was opened at 11:15am. This represented a substantial reduction in the time available to the voters to cast their votes. 8.4. As a result of the late opening of the polling stations, and the reduction in the time available, substantial numbers of voters (some of whom had queued since 4:30 a.m.) were prevented from casting their votes. For example, many persons in Potters (polling station C) work at the local hotels, and as domestic helpers would have been unable to meet the cost of transport to return to [P]otters to vote before 6pm. This is to be contrasted with the many government workers who did not lose any pay and so were able to remain.” [43] It is clear to me that these are allegations concerning the late opening of the polls, with the consequent reduction in the time which electors had available to them to vote. The consequence of the late opening, according to these statements, is that many persons, some of whom had queued for long periods, were unable to vote. These statements do not allege that there was late voting in breach of electoral 22

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