Presidential hopeful Fabian Jones is not surprised that embattled National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) president Akanni McDowall has turned to the law courts in his bid to contest the union’s elections.
While Jones and his rival Kimberley Agard were wrapping up their canvassing Wednesday ahead of tomorrow’s highly-anticipated elections, McDowall through his lawyer had filed an injunction asking the court to postpone the elections so he could take part.
McDowall had his NUPW membership suspended by the National Council, resulting in him being unable to take part in Nomination Day or the upcoming poll.
Ahead of the court’s decision, Jones told Barbados TODAY he was expecting McDowall to do everything in his power to delay the elections.
“He has the type of personality that he is not going to walk away without a fight and such is his right. Up until the point I believe that the National Council was on good ground but I would have to respect whatever the judge’s ruling is, but at this time I expect elections to still go on and I’m still optimistic that there will be an election,” Jones said.
“From my analysis of the leadup to the suspension everything seems sound. I’m not an expert on law so I don’t know if there is some legal loophole that some lawyer may be able to argue.”
Jones also contended that it was “more coincidental than strategic” that McDowall’s suspension coincided with Nomination Day.
Speaking on his chances of becoming the next NUPW president, Jones said that having put in all the hard work he was expecting a positive result. According to him he had worked extremely hard canvassing during the lead-up to elections and expected it to bear fruit.
Jones, who lost to McDowall by 62 votes in the 2019 elections, admitted that he expected it to be a close race.
His other team members include Daria Cave who is contesting the post of 1st vice-president, David Denny (2nd vice-president) and Mclita King who will be running for the post of 3rd vice-president.
“I feel very confident. I’ve always done well in the past, even in defeat I’ve done well, so I feel confident. I put in the work so I’m very optimistic and we expect a good response from the work we put in,” Jones said. (randybennett@barbadostoday.bb)
