Labour may fight Brill election, but bill of thousands powerful deterrent

Press, 20 December 1978, Page 1

Labour may fight Brill election, but bill of thousands powerful deterrent

Labour Party officials will meet today to decide whether to begin what could be an expensive court battle to overturn the reinstatement of Mr B. E. Brill as the National member of Parliament for Kapiti.

The decision by a Wellington Magistrate, Mr W. M. Willis, S.M., yesterday resulted in Mr Brill’s being

returned with a majority

i 1 of 23 votes over the Labour candidate, Mrs Margaret Shields. On election night Mrs ■ Shields held a majority of ■ nine, later to be increased ' to 15 in the final result ani nounced by the Kapiti rei turning officer (Mr R. G. j Montagu). The Press Association | says Mr Montagu told rei porters at the Wellington I court that Mr Willis had ' ruled out “ticks, crosses, miscellaneous lines, or any I combination of these” on ( ballot papers. j' “The Magistrate decided . i that only those strictly I formally marked would be I accepted,”' Mr Montagu I i said. V The Labour Party’s !' general secretary (Mr J. F. ■ Wybrow) reacted angrily ; to the decision. '*■ Asked whether the fight ' to have Mrs Shields declared member for Kapiti i was over, Mr Wybrow replied; “Hell, it has only just begun. — with the ■ qualification that we have to consider in the cold light of dawn the possibility of continuing it, because of the costs involved.” ’* A prime consideration for the party would be the costs involved. Such an action could cost between $lO,OOO and $20,000 depending on the length of the hearing and the basis :for the action. ■ The only position open to the Labour Party if it wants to continue the battle to have Mrs Shields in Parliament is to present an electoral petition and have the case heard in an electoral court. Mr Wybrow said that party executive members would meet today to discuss this with Mrs Shields and her electorate workers.

“I would expect to have our decision announced by midday,” he said.

Mr Wybrow said that the decision by Mr Willis was in conflict with a decision last week by Mr D. Sullivan, S.M., who allowed ballot papers marked with ticks and crosses to be counted. Mr Sullivan ruled in a recount sought by the defeated National member, Mr W. R. Fenton in the Hastings seat, that such markings were acceptable in areas where it was a custom to accept crosses or ticks on local-body election papers.

Mr Sullivan said in his

judgment: “The returning officer for Hastings has referred me to a circu-

lar from the Chief Elec-

toral Officer, who in his directions to all returning officers, indicated that electors could use a cross or a tick as in localauthority elections.” Mr Sullivan said he had found that it was a custom in Hastings to mark local-body election papers in this way. But, he said, this was not to say that the practice would be acceptable in other electorates.

It appeared that Mr Willis had taken a “conscious decision to disallow a certain method of voting,” Mr Wybrow said. “You do not find an arithmetical error of that size, meaning 38 votes, where you have got crosschecks involved,” Mr Wybrow said.

He said it was consistent with the Electoral Act that a vote be allowed where there was a clear intention expressed in favour of one candidate.

“The only type of vote I would call informal is where there is some indication for two candidates,” Mr Wybrow said. Mr Willis’s decision increases the Government’s election-night majority over Labour and Social Credit from six to eight. The final result as declared by Mr Montagu is: B. E. Brill (N) .. 8211 M. Shields (L) .. 8188 R. J. Collins (S.C.) .. 2345 V. Harvard (V) .. 305 Informal . . 172

Mr Montagu said that 83 votes were cancelled out in the recount. The Chief Electoral Officer (Mr J. L. Wright), declines to comment on the magisterial decision. Nor would he comment when asked whether he considered ticks and crosses to be acceptable on ballot papers.

Asked to confirm that he had told returning officers that such markings would be acceptable in certain cases, Mr Wright replied: “I have no comment on What instructions I issued to returning officers.” But he said the magisterial decision was no reflection on Mr Montagu. Another magisterial recount will be held today in the Western Hutt electorate, where the defeated National member, Mr B. S. G. Lambert, is challenging a 196-majority held by Mr J. J. Terris (Labour). It is also believed that the National Party will seek a magisterial recount in Hunua.