Hamza Bana, one of three candidates for the Welfare and Equality race has received a the first strike in this year’s elections campaign strike. The strike has been issued by the Electoral Commission (EC).
Bana’s campaign team, led by campaign manager Zoe Whelan, failed to notify the EC of their absence from the Election Briefing meeting held prior to the official campaigning season. As a result of this, they have been issued a Class C violation, worth 20 points. As noted by the EC: “The campaign team did not provide evidence of extenuating circumstances to mitigate their absence.”
This strike restricts Bana’s campaigning hours, with his team prohibited from campaigning for a period of 2 hours from 10am, to 12pm on Tuesday, February 2o.
Bana declined to comment to Trinity News.
As per Section 4.2.3(b) of Schedule 3, ‘The campaign team shall notify the EC of the absence of either the candidate or campaign manager prior to the meeting unless extenuating circumstances exist.’ It is within the discretion of the EC to determine whether the adequate circumstances apply.
In the event of a campaign team receiving 100 points worth of sanctions, they shall be disqualified from the race.
Bana will resume campaigning after 12pm on Tuesday.
