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Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

this is how we do it.......

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Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby AlphaMan » November 4th, 2022, 3:45 pm

Thoughts on this move by the PNM through Al Rawi? :shock:

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby redmanjp » November 4th, 2022, 3:50 pm

they can legally do that?

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby Dizzy28 » November 4th, 2022, 3:53 pm

Elections can also take place in 2024


December 3, 2023. He said this extra year will allow for rollout of the local government reform package

Local government elections were constitutionally due on December 3, 2022, or up to a three-month period thereafter.
https://newsday.co.tt/2022/11/03/one-mo ... -aldermen/

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby VexXx Dogg » November 4th, 2022, 3:54 pm

happened a few times already

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby Kickstart » November 4th, 2022, 4:05 pm

They need the extra time to blame Kamala and program the PNM supporters

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby Dizzy28 » November 4th, 2022, 4:10 pm

VexXx Dogg wrote:happened a few times already


After the LE of 2003 there was none till 2010.
And that's probably only because PNM lost the GE.

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby redmanjp » November 4th, 2022, 6:21 pm

Dizzy28 wrote:
VexXx Dogg wrote:happened a few times already


After the LE of 2003 there was none till 2010.
And that's probably only because PNM lost the GE.


that not unconstitutional?

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby paid_influencer » November 4th, 2022, 6:28 pm

remember when kamla tell we the anansi story about how she calling internals early because local elections coming up

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby AlphaMan » November 4th, 2022, 6:39 pm

redmanjp wrote:
Dizzy28 wrote:
VexXx Dogg wrote:happened a few times already


After the LE of 2003 there was none till 2010.
And that's probably only because PNM lost the GE.


that not unconstitutional?

Al Rawi Change the law yesterday... :roll:

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby Rovin » November 4th, 2022, 7:24 pm

is al fairy authorized to announce something like this ? , i would think something so major wud be d job of d PM

i doh see wais their strategy here cause they easily winning everything once kamla in charge of d opposition, so u wud think they wud gladly hold it to rub their victory in unc face even though their popularity is at at all time low d poo nm still winning ....

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby DMan7 » November 4th, 2022, 7:30 pm

I thought Ferris Wheel is no longer AG, how he changing law now?

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby hover11 » November 4th, 2022, 7:35 pm

He is a financiar he was always in charge....
DMan7 wrote:I thought Ferris Wheel is no longer AG, how he changing law now?

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby Mmoney607 » November 4th, 2022, 8:54 pm

DMan7 wrote:I thought Ferris Wheel is no longer AG, how he changing law now?


Politicians does just insert themselves in anything here. And notice the man wear a suit for that press conference :lol:. All the time since he become LG minster he wearing polo but when he talking about law he put on a suit. :lol:

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby The_Honourable » November 5th, 2022, 12:07 pm

Parts of the Local Government Reform bill will be proclaimed and he's announcing it as Local Government Minister.

One more year for local government – Minister announces extended terms for councillors aldermen

Rural Development and Local Government Minister Faris Al-Rawi said under the Miscellaneous Provisions (Local Government Reform) Bill 2020, which will be partially proclaimed on Tuesday, the terms of all councillors and aldermen currently in office will end on December 3, 2023. He said this extra year will allow for rollout of the local government reform package.

Local government elections were constitutionally due on December 3, 2022, or up to a three-month period thereafter.

Speaking at a post-Cabinet media briefing on Thursday, Al-Rawi said the specific parts to be proclaimed would be the sections 11 and 12 of the Municipal Corporations Act, which previously stated that councillors and aldermen would serve three-year terms.

“This is the start of the local government reform journey. We specifically have to roll out property tax collection, more revenue into the hands of the corporations, and then bringing to life full-time corporations where your elected members serve, the mayor and councillors go into full-time employment.

“Within the extra year, we will be able to build out all the relevant sections of the law, including taking councillors who are executive members and making them into secretaries similar to the THA; operationalising 13 separate divisions inside local government divisions, including planning, engineering, audit and accounting, sporting and recreation, etc.”

Al-Rawi said the next local government election will be run under the new law in its full form, which involved critical financial benefits to the corporations for their survival and efficient operation. He said one of these inclusions would be operationalisation of the collection of residential property tax under the new part five of the Municipal Corporations Act

“This means that several hundred million dollars will go to the corporations where the residences are located for them to manage the money. In addition, the new law involves maintenance of schools, which means we have to transfer monies located under the Education Ministry or in a state enterprise such as NIPDEC to the regional corporation. Certain functions from the public health division of the Health Ministry and certain reporting requirements back to the Finance Ministry will go to the corporations. The working arrangements are complicated and we must start.”

He said there would be further partial proclamations over the next year as feedback would have to be received from various entities.

“What is the salary of a councillor going to be? This is the Chief Personnel Officer in consultation with the Finance Minister. Job descriptions also have to be created. The hiring practices, the consultations have to be concluded with the trade unions to make sure the hiring practices are in order, and the two service commissions that are involved, the public service commission and the statutory authorities service commission. They will have the ability to hire their own people. The CEOs have to take the instructions of the mayors.”

Al-Rawi said if the elections were held when constitutionally due before the new law was implemented, the other measures could not be put in place and the elected councillors would have to be sacked.

“If you run the election under the old law, it would be another three years for those terms to expire, during which people would not have as much money as they could have spent on their behalf by the corporations. I see it as an opportunity for the people of TT to get what was promised to them during consultations.

“You would invite nominees, schedule an election, and run it on the basis of the old law. You would probably have part-time councillors who come from different areas who can’t therefore become executive members unless they give up their jobs. People need to know with certainty whether they should or can participate in the local government elections, and one of those things is, are you prepared to give up your full-time occupation somewhere else and become a full-time executive member of the council, because that is what you’d be required to do. This is the first step in certainty to ensure the new law is fully operationalised.”

Al-Rawi said several sections of the bill would be mentioned in the debate on the Finance Act in Parliament on Friday, including the triggering of a tax amnesty, involving land and building taxes, which came into effect under the Persad-Bissessar-led administration under then Finance Minister Larry Howai and had been waived from 2009 to present.

The minister said the purpose of the Secondary Road and Rehabilitation Company was to bridge the gap between the corporations and his ministry, as there were some roads which were not under the control of either entity.

Al-Rawi noted that the schedule of the rollout of the Bill had been shared at a public consultation for local government entities on August 9 which had been boycotted by all UNC-controlled corporations. He said they were not informed in writing of the results of the public consultation.

https://newsday.co.tt/2022/11/03/one-mo ... -aldermen/

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby timelapse » November 5th, 2022, 3:38 pm

Scarfy's covid seems well timed

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby eliteauto » November 5th, 2022, 3:40 pm

When yuh fraid cut-arse so you roll out "amendments and reform"

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby hover11 » November 5th, 2022, 3:50 pm

Patiently waiting for the shot they will try for General Elections
eliteauto wrote:When yuh fraid cut-arse so you roll out "amendments and reform"

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby paid_influencer » November 5th, 2022, 5:58 pm

ent they did the same for THA election. 6-6 but from feb to dec thr pnm controlling tha

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby Kickstart » November 5th, 2022, 7:28 pm

eliteauto wrote:When yuh fraid cut-arse so you roll out "amendments and reform"
But PNM going win reform or no reform

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby AlphaMan » November 5th, 2022, 7:34 pm

Faris new Slogan is "I am LG" :lol:

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby Kickstart » November 6th, 2022, 12:43 am

AlphaMan wrote:Faris new Slogan is "I am LG"
From AG to LG

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby timelapse » November 6th, 2022, 6:18 am

AlphaMan wrote:Faris new Slogan is "I am LG"
BT?

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby De Dragon » November 7th, 2022, 12:42 am

Kickstart wrote:
AlphaMan wrote:Faris new Slogan is "I am LG"
From AG to LG

Nah, MB

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby The_Honourable » November 8th, 2022, 9:40 pm

Opposition Activist threatens lawsuit over move to postpone local government elections

Opposition activist Ravi Balgobin Maharaj has signalled his intention to pursue a lawsuit against the Government over its decision to extend the term of local government representatives and consequently defer the upcoming Local Government elections.

Maharaj’s attorneys made the legal threat in a pre-action protocol letter sent to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC,and Rural Development and Local Government Minister Faris Al-Rawi, yesterday evening.

In the correspondence, Maharaj’s lawyer Vishaal Siewsaran, of Freedom Law Chambers, claimed that his client was eagerly awaiting the Local Government election, which was scheduled to take place between December, this year, and March, next year, as he was not satisfied with the performance of the councillor for his electoral district of Maracas/Santa Margarita.

He claimed that Maharaj became concerned after Al-Rawi hosted a press conference last week and announced the Government’s intention to proclaim certain sections of the Miscellaneous Provisions (Local Government Reform) Act, which was passed in Parliament without Opposition support, early this year.

The sections of the legislation identified by Al-Rawi seeks to increase the terms of councillors from three years to four years.

Siewsaran said his client questioned whether the legislation had retrospective effect on currently serving councillors.

“Our client, at all material times, understood the purport of the amendments to be in furtherance of reforming local government and therefore to apply prospectively to some future elected Council,” he said.

Siewsaran suggested that the decision was unlawful and an abuse of power.

“Our client will contend that the Government has acted in an unauthorised manner contrary to the law,” he said.

“Our client would further contend that the Government’s attempt to delay the elections by retrospectively applying the amendments to the Municipal Corporations Act is a fraud committed on the electorate, in bad faith, which amounts to an improper use of the legislation,” he added.

Siewsaran suggested that elections should only be postponed in exceptional circumstances.

“In other words, whenever elections are to be denied or deferred it ought not to be done by implication. The laws ought to be interpreted in a way which facilitates the holding of elections unless the contrary intention is expressly shown,” he said.

He suggested that the action amounts to the “subversion” of the rule of law and the democratic process.

“The act of voting is indisputable an individual’s specific and unique expression of their political opinion- in other words, it is the proof in the pudding. We simply cannot have a democracy without voting,” he said.

Through the proposed lawsuit, Maharaj would seek a series of declarations against the move.

He has also indicated that he would seek an injunction barring Mayors, Councillors and Aldermen, elected in December 2019, from acting in their offices after December 3.

Siewsaran gave Dr Rowley and his Cabinet colleagues until 4 pm next Monday to reverse their decision and respond to his legal threat before he files the lawsuit on Maharaj’s behalf.

Source: https://www.cnc3.co.tt/opposition-activ ... elections/

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby paid_influencer » November 8th, 2022, 9:54 pm

govt going to use our own taxpayer funds against us by hiring the most expensive lawyers to tie up the case as long as possible and bankrupt he. and if he win, well look out, appeals coming, also funded by taxpayers. and if they win the appeal, guess who have to pay damages, taxpayers. so we paying to fight ourselves into bankruptcy while the maximum leadership doing what it wants any way it wants

the system built by maximum leadership for maximum leadership. it not built for the ordinary people to have a say in the way ravi trying.

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby hover11 » November 8th, 2022, 9:59 pm

paid_influencer wrote:govt going to use our own taxpayer funds against us by hiring the most expensive lawyers to tie up the case as long as possible and bankrupt he. and if he win, well look out, appeals coming, also funded by taxpayers. and if they win the appeal, guess who have to pay damages, taxpayers. so we paying to fight ourselves into bankruptcy while the maximum leadership doing what it wants any way it wants

the system built by maximum leadership for maximum leadership. it not built for the ordinary people to have a say in the way ravi trying.
Similar fate to that of the unions and the 4 percent that is currently tied up in the industrial court at the moment

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby De Dragon » November 12th, 2022, 2:56 pm

At least someone is taking this dictatorial LFD RFD PNM to task via the courts.
Tight Shirt's reasoning, as usual :roll: defies sense and logic. That LGE could have been held as normal, and has ZERO bearing on the supposed LG reform. The LFD RFD PNM desperately wants to avoid another Tobago debacle, and this is how they plan to achieve it.

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby The_Honourable » November 15th, 2022, 10:19 pm

UNC challenges local government reform in court

THE OPPOSITION UNC has made good on its threat to file legal action against the Government over its decision to proclaim parts of recently passed Local Government Reform Bill that could allow for local government elections to be delayed by a year. The bill passed on June 14 with a simple majority in Parliament.

On Tuesday, attorneys for activist Ravi Balgobin-Maharaj filed the claim in the High Court. Balgobin-Maharaj said, as a voter in the Maracas/Santa Margarita electoral district, he is aggrieved by the decision taken by Cabinet and announced recently by Local Government and Rural Development Minister Faris Al-Rawi.

Balgobin-Maharaj gave the Government until 4 pm on November 14 to return to the original period for holding the election – previously due between December 2022 and March 2023 – or he will go to court for judicial review relief.

With no response forthcoming, his attorneys filed the action. The lawsuit said, “there is the real risk that councillors, aldermen, and mayors will be unlawfully occupying their respective offices from December 3, 2022.”

Now, he wants several orders and an injunction restraining all councillors and aldermen from acting beyond December 3.

The lawsuit contends the decision of the Cabinet was unauthorised, contrary to law and an abuse of power to “retrospectively apply an amendment to the law to increase the terms of councillors which ultimately delays the local government elections.”

The claim, which seeks declarations to put a stop to an alleged government plan to postpone the local election, said any attempt to delay it by retrospectively applying the amendments to the Municipal Corporations Act would be a fraud committed on the electorate, in bad faith, and would amount to improper use of the legislation.

Balgobin-Maharaj is also asking to court to quash the declaration that local government elections are now due between December 4, 2023, to March 4, 2024, and the decision to extend the term of office of all councillors and aldermen.

“The decision also denies the electorate of their legitimate expectation that the councillors (whom) they elected in 2019 would only be in office for a three-year term.

“Furthermore, those persons serving on the council have also been denied their legitimate expectation that they would only serve a three-year term.”

Any decision to change or amend the act, the lawsuit further contended, must be done expressly and unambiguously.

“In other words, whenever elections are to be denied or deferred it ought not to be done by inference, indirect consequence or implication. The laws ought to be interpreted in a way which facilitates the holding of elections unless the contrary intention is expressly shown.

“In a democratic society such as Trinidad and Tobago, laws must be interpreted and construed to facilitate the holding of elections; when elections are to be postponed(which should only be done in the most exceptional circumstances), the relevant legislative enactment must be unambiguous and express in its language, intent, and purport.”

It also said it was “inherently wrong” for the Government to amend the law “under the guise of local government reform, only to attempt to apply those amendments implicitly in a piecemeal and retrospective manner to alter the terms of the council which was elected in 2019 under and by virtue of the law that existed at the material time.”

It added, “The effect of the Government’s interpretation of the law is to extend the life of the current council by one year.

It contends the electorate is being denied its right to vote in elections for that period by amendments which do not state on their face that it is to have a retrospective effect, and which clearly ought not to be interpreted in that manner.

It argued, “An analysis of whether the amendments have retrospective effect must be conducted subject to the constitutional significance of the right to vote.”

The lawsuit alleged the action of the minister and Cabinet “has given rise to the understandable perception that the Government is abusing its power to avoid and/or delay the local government elections in light of its poor ratings.”

It also mentioned amendments contemplated by the Patrick Manning-led administration to extend the term of councillors, but said the proposed amendments did not seek to retrospectively alter the law.

“Whilst the Manning administration took the bull by the horns and squarely promoted and confronted the true policy, purport and intent of these amendments, the present government is trying to secure an unlawful postponement of the local government elections through the back door by surreptitiously purporting to increase the term of office for councillors and aldermen by one year thereby indirectly allowing the Government to postpone the local government elections by one year to avoid facing the electorate.”

Balgobin-Maharaj is represented by Anand Ramlogan, SC, Renuka Rambhajan, Jayanti Lutchmedial, Robert Abdool-Mitchell, Natasha Bisram, and Vishaal Siewsaran.

In a pre-action protocol letter sent last week to the Prime Minister, Attorney General and Al-Rawi, Balgobin-Maharaj said he had grown frustrated by the poor representation in his district.

“The electoral district continues to have numerous potholes, the drains are not regularly cleaned, the environment is unkempt, and when it rains there is widespread flooding and mosquitoes in the area.”

He said he was looking forward to the local government elections “to vote for a new representative in hope that better representation could be provided for the burgesses of the electoral district of Maracas/Santa Margarita.”

https://newsday.co.tt/2022/11/15/unc-ch ... -in-court/

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby timelapse » November 16th, 2022, 7:35 am

Easy place for PNM to blatantly steal state funds are the corporations that have zero accountability.Keep voting for them.I hope pnm supporters growing grass to eat

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Re: Local Government Elections Postponed until December 2023

Postby maj. tom » December 1st, 2022, 8:08 am


Judge refuses injunction to stop local government extension
JADA LOUTOO 13 HRS AGO

Image
Justice Jacqueline Wilson


A High Court judge has denied an injunction to prevent local government councillors and aldermen from continuing in office for a year after December 3.

On Wednesday, Justice Jacqueline Wilson refused to grant the injunction to political activist Ravi Balgobin-Maharaj as part of his challenge to the Local Government Reform Act.

Passed by a simple majority earlier this year, the act allows local government elections to be delayed by a year, which the government has said it wants to do.

Reading out the salient aspects of her ruling, Wilson said it was the court’s view that the least irreparable harm would be to refuse the injunction, because of the range of services provided by aldermen and councillors and the potential impact of their disruption.

But in assessing the merits of Balgobin-Maharaj’s main complaint, she agreed there was a serious issue to be tried.

Balgobin-Maharaj had asked the court to restrain all councillors and aldermen elected in the December 2, 2019, local government elections from acting beyond December 3, 2022.

Alternatively, he wanted the offices of all councillors and aldermen declared vacant from December 4.

In submissions on Monday, Balgobin-Maharaj’s lead attorney Anand Ramlogan, SC, said the changes to the law could not be applied retroactively to apply to incumbent councillors and aldermen, as announced by Local Government and Rural Development Minister Faris Al-Rawi, but to future council members elected in the next local government elections.

He said for the law to take retroactive effect to apply to current councils, Parliament should have expressly said so, as the rights of the electorate to vote in an election when legally due would be affected.

Ramlogan said the interpretation by the minister, and by extension the Cabinet, that the amendments to the act applied to incumbent councillors and aldermen, was based on an error.

“It is an abuse of power because it is being done by the executive and not the legislature,” Ramlogan said.

Objecting to an injunction's being granted, the State’s lead attorney, Douglas Mendes, SC, advised the judge to determine where the least irreparable harm would lie in granting one, since she did not, at this stage, have to decide on the merits of the case.

“If we are correct, and the legislature has extended the terms of office of the current councils, then the effect of an injunction restraining them from acting in their offices will have the effect of shortening their term...

“It would mean that the will of the legislature will not be followed, and you will deprive electors of service,” he argued. He also warned that citizens would be deprived of the provision of service by councillors and aldermen if the court granted the injunction.

“There is no challenge to the legality of the amendment. What is being challenged is the minister’s interpretation.”

Wilson is expected to hear Balgobin-Maharaj’s substantive challenge in January.

Balgobin-Maharaj, a voter in the Maracas/Santa Margarita electoral district, said he was aggrieved by the decision taken by Cabinet and announced by Al-Rawi.

In her ruling on the injunction application, Wilson said it was necessary to consider whether the minister’s statements were reviewable on the ground of illegality, as argued.

“There is no complaint of the amended provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act, but the complaint is that the interpretation by the minister leads to unlawful results.”

She said the court had to decide what legal consequences would flow from the minister’s statements in which he informed the public of the Government’s intention to proclaim the amendments while explaining their effects.

Wilson said the court had a supervisor role and it was for the court to discern Parliament’s intention and give effect to the legislature's purpose.

She said local government councils played an important role in providing services to the public, and it did not follow that there would be adverse consequences if they were allowed to continue in office beyond the three months after their term ends.

“Practical measures can be taken,” she said, pointing to the evidence of Penal/Debe Regional Corporation chairman Dr Allen Sammy, who explained how the local government system continued to work before an election after a term ends, and the evidence of the minister.

Maharaj was also represented by Jayanti Lutchmedial, Renuka Rambhajan, Robert Abdool-Mitchell, Natasha Bisram and Vishaal Siewsaran. Rishi Dass, Leah Abdulah, Anala Mohan appear with Mendes for the State.
https://newsday.co.tt/2022/11/30/judge-refuses-injunction-to-stop-local-government-extension/

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