Norbert made it known that he had no intention to resign as a teacher at his party’s press conference on June 3 and followed calls by his opponent to resign.

On May 20th, Micoud North MP Jeremiah Norbert, dared that his opponent resign from his post as a teacher in accordance with s.4.16 of the Standing Orders of the Public Service.

“You know why I resigned? Because I say if I come and do something, I'm not doing one foot in, one foot out. I came in wholeheartedly to represent the people of Micoud North,” said incumbent Norbert, who was the first Saint Lucia Labour Party candidate to win the UWP stronghold seat of Micoud North.

Before entering the arena of elective politics, Jeremiah Norbert was a police officer, thus a public servant. According to s.4.16 of the Standing Orders of the Public Service:

“[Public] Officers are expressly forbidden from engaging in party political

activity at any time such as:

(a) holding office or taking active part in any political organization;

(b) engaging in publicly in political controversy or publicly criticizing the policy of the Government or individual Ministries;

(c) writing letters to the press, publishing books or articles, circulating leaflets or pamphlets or participating in radio or television broadcast on political matters;

(d) canvassing in support of political parties or in any way publicly supporting or indicating support for any political party or candidate.”

Jeremiah Norbert gave a challenge to his opponent, who is a self-proclaimed educator of 21 years, to resign: “If you know you're going to win this seat in Micoud North, resign and come and run. Resign and come and run!”

However, Elisha Norbert counters the challenge by boasting about his competence of his teaching abilities.

“My appraisals cause over 85%, sometimes 98%. And  I know that my work as a teacher is valuable.  I am doing my job, I'm not resigning.  If [Jeremiah Norbert is] not able to perform his duties,  if I was in his position,  I would have resigned.  But I can do my job.  Let me do it for as long as I need to do it.  And let's just wait until the time  for the election period is here,” he said.

While there are efforts to modernise and update the standing orders of the public service, the regulations tie the hands of a public servant who wants to both keep his post and contest elections.