Campaign fund controllers throw Alain Richardson out of the Territorial Council
MARIGOT – Alain Richardson, leader of the political party En Marche vers le Progrès (On the way to progress) has to give up his seat in the Territorial Council because of campaign financing violations. Ramona Connor will replace him. Jules Charville (Generation Hope) was punished for a different violation but the ruling against him does not include that he has to leave the Territorial Council.
Richardson’s campaign account shows that he exceed the maximum amount allowed under the law by a mere €625 ($769 at the current rate). But that was enough for the Commission Nationale des Comptes de campagne et des financements politique – an independent French committee that controls campaign financing – to throw Richardson out of the Territorial Council.
It is not the first time this happens to Richardson who is a certified public accountant. In 2012 he was elected president of the Collectivité but he also had to give up that position because of campaign financing violations.
“Richardson is inadmissible for his failure to respect regulations pertaining to campaign funds,” the electoral judge on the controlling committee noted in the ruling. The document furthermore points out that Richardson is not only an expert on accounting, but that he is also a seasoned politician. He can therefore not pretend that the irregularity with his campaign fund is an oversight or a case of bad accounting. “Richardson deliberately ignored a basic rule of campaign financing and that is a grave violation,” the ruling states. “This leaves no other option than to declare Richardson ineligible for any mandate for one year and to declare his resignation as a member of the Territorial Council.”
Richardson said in a brief comment to the French newspaper 97150 that the committee’s decision is “disproportionate.”
Jules Charville, leader of Generation Hope has been banned from elections for one year because he did not submit his audited campaign account on time and because he accepted three platforms from a company as a gift during the elections.
Charville does not have to give up his seat; at least that is not part of the ruling, 97150 reports. In case he does have to leave the council, it is unclear whom his successor will be because Hope went to the elections in March of last year with a combined list with the party of Louis Mussington. Frantz Gumbs is the next in line on Mussington’s list and Abigail Pavot is the number 2 on Charville’s list.
Photo captions: Alain Richardson (top) and Jules Charville. Photos taken from Soualigapost.com.
