A Democratic candidate for Watchung Borough Council who has admitted that he doesn’t meet the legal residency requirement to hold the office will remain on the ballot anyway after a judge determined that it was too late to do anything about it.
Marcel Akende revealed last week that he’d only lived in Watchung for eight months, falling short of New Jersey’s one-year residency requirement. He signed an oath saying he met the residency requirement.
But Superior Court Judge Kevin Shanahan rejected a bid by Republicans to essentially freeze Akende’s candidacy, saying it was too late in the process to do anything about it. Vote-by-mail ballots have been out since September, and early voting began on October 26.
If Akende wins – he’s an underdog to begin with in Watchung, where Republicans hold all council seats – a judge would have to likely declare the seat vacant and a new election would be ordered. That could be a free-standing special election, or the seat could be filled in November 2025.
It would also be up to a judge to decide which party fills the vacancy on an interim basis, if at all. Republicans could claim they held the seat prior to the election and Democrats could say they won the election, albeit with a tainted candidate. It’s happened before, and New Jersey judges have gone different ways on the same issue.
Akende won the Democratic primary as a write-in candidate. He and Albi Xavier face Republican incumbents Christine Ead and Curt Dahl.
He did not appear in court today for a hearing involving his candidacy.