Former Deputy Mayor of Hamilton Sonia Grant has complained to the British Parliament about the administration of the last Mayoral election, which she lost to Sutherland Madeiros.

She wrote to a Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry into the governance of the overseas territories to complain that the Corporation of Hamilton elections "are not free and fair".

In the letter, dated October 2007, she also described the election of October, 2006 as "an absolute disgrace, with the rule of law being tossed out the window".

MPs from all Britain's main political parties are considering submissions as part of the inquiry, which focuses on areas including good governance and human rights. Once it is completed, they will file a report to Meg Munn, Minister for the overseas territories, which will be debated in the House of Commons.

Miss Grant, a lawyer, alleged that the City of Hamilton election franchise is not based on universal adult suffrage, and breaches the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Although she did not specify what she meant by this, critics have in the past complained that because business owners have one vote each while residential owners have one vote per household, the system is unfairly biased toward property owners.

Last year, Miss Grant brought a case against Mr. Madeiros in the Supreme Court, claiming election laws were wrongly interpreted when she lost to him by 161 votes to 124 in the election, and that the result should be overturned.

Her allegations that Mr. Madeiros was involved in election interference and that Returning Officer John Cooper and Corporation of Hamilton Secretary Kelly Miller deliberately acted wrongly were all dropped during the case, which Miss Grant ultimately lost.

She was heavily criticised by Chief Justice Richard Ground, who described her petition to the court as a "lengthy and confused document" containing serious allegations unsupported by evidence.

Referring to that case, Miss Grant told the inquiry: "Even though I lost my legal action... the Mayoral election held by The Corporation of Hamilton on Thursday, the 26th day of October 2006 was an absolute disgrace, with the rule of law being tossed out the window."

She said her lawsuit was premised on the correct interpretation of the law and repeated allegations that changes were illegally made to the Voters' Register once the election was announced.

She claimed this came after Mr. Cooper made "threats" to the Registering Officer – an apparent reference to Ms Miller – on the telephone on the eve of the election that she should change the names of nominees of companies submitted after the election was announced.

Miss Grant told the inquiry: "There is a tremendous amount more that can be said about the Mayoral election of 26th October 2006 and how the electoral rights of the constituents of the City of Hamilton and the rule of law were trampled, but the basis of this submission is to draw the Committee's attention to the lack of good governance emanating from the Corporation of Hamilton and its continual undermining of the human rights of its constituents in the context of its elections."

Miss Grant, whose letter can be viewed in full on the Foreign Affairs section of the website www.publications.parliament.uk, declined to comment when contacted by The Royal Gazette.

Mr. Cooper defended his actions in respect of the election, saying his legal opinion was upheld by the Chief Justice. He denied making any "threat" to Ms Miller, telling this newspaper he considered Miss Grant's use of that word to be "tendentious."

He said he believed Miss Grant to be incorrect in her opinion that municipal elections are not free and fair, and commented: "As a barrister and attorney of many years of experience, Ms Grant should know better than to bandy about her subjective but unexplained opinion that the election of October 26, 2006 'was an absolute disgrace with the rule of law being tossed out the window'.

"She lost her election challenge before the Supreme Court in all respects, which suggests that she cannot possibly be right about this."