( L - R ) Dabdoub, Vaz

Attorney-at-law Gayle Nelson, who is representing People's National Party candidate Abe Dabdoub, submitted yesterday at the election petition hearing in the Supreme Court that people with divided loyalty had no part in Parliament.Dabdoub is seeking to be declared the Member of Parliament for the West Portland constituency because MP Daryl Vaz is an American citizen.

Chief Justice Zaila McCalla is hearing the election petition in which Dabdoub is seeking to unseat Vaz who won the seat in the September 3, 2007 general election.

Dabdoub is contending that under the Constitution, Vaz is not entitled to be a MP because he is an American citizen and the holder of an American passport and therefore has pledged allegiance to a foreign power.

However, Vaz is contending that he obtained his American citizenship through his mother who was an American and that was not of his doing.

But, Nelson submitted that Dabdoub did not share the view that Vaz did nothing to get his citizenship. He said there was evidence that Vaz applied for an American passport and got it.

Acknowledged allegiance

He said that by applying for and obtaining the passport, Vaz had acknowledged allegiance to the United States.

Nelson is expected to complete his legal submissions tomorrow in the Supreme Court. He has cited numerous authorities to support Dabdoub's contention.

Last week, Vaz's lawyer, Ransford Braham, submitted that Vaz was a citizen of the United States involuntarily because he obtained his citizenship by descent or derivation and was therefore not affected by Section 40(2) of the Jamaican Constitution.

The section states: "No person shall be qualified to be appointed as a Senator or elected as a member of the House of Representatives who is, by virtue of his own act, under any acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign Power or State".