BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A representative of the Caribbean Research Development Services (CADRES) has vehemently denied that his organisation carried out any public opinion poll concerning changes to the electoral boundaries in St. Kitts and Nevis.
Peter Wickham, a political consultant attached to the regional firm, spoke candidly to SKNVibes about the matter.
“I have to disassociate myself with the information that has been put out there. CADRES did conduct a poll related to the upcoming general elections, but no mention was made and no questions were asked about the boundary changes.
“We did not release any information like that, and if there were figures related to that, the information would have come from the organisation itself, not a minister of government. There would have been no confusion,” Wickham said.
Last month, a press release disseminated by the Office of the Prime Minister stated that Senator Nigel Carty had revealed on Sugar City Roc’s morning show “Journeys” that 60 percent of persons believed the electoral boundaries were flawed and needed to be changed. The Junior Minister had attributed the statistics to a poll conducted by CADRES in late November.
Attempts by this media house to reach Sen. Carty for clarification were unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, Wickham gave insight into the actual polling done and subsequent conclusions that were formed by CADRES.
“CADRES conducted a survey of public opinion in St Kitts during the last two weeks in November. Like all previous CADRES surveys in St. Kitts, this was based on 800 interviews conducted in all eight constituencies on the mainland…the survey measured public political opinion using party support and change of government indicators.”
According to Wickham, the current CADRES projection is that if an election had been called in November, the ruling St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) would have retained all the seats it previously held, but would not have gained any additional seats.
Additionally, the poll revealed that 48 percent of persons indicated they would support the SKNLP, while 29 percent promised to support opposition party the People’s Action Movement (PAM), with one percent indicating a preference for other parties or individuals.
Twenty-two percent of persons interviewed refused to answer the political question when asked.
The political consultant informed that questions were also asked related to a change of government and to the timing of general elections, but that “none whatsoever” were posed concerning the constituency boundary limits.
“Half of the electorate said they did not wish to see a change of government at this time, while 32 percent expressed the desire to see the government changed. It is noteworthy that the desire to change the government is now lower than it was at the time that the last public opinion survey was conducted in St. Kitts by CADRES (July 2009).
“The survey also indicated that Kittitians are now more ready than ever before for a general election. Some 62 percent of persons interviewed stated that they are ready for a general election now (this year) while 30 percent said they would prefer to have the election in the New Year,” Wickham added.
Hon. Shawn Richards, PAM Deputy Political Leader and its sole representative in the National Assembly, said the imbroglio was another sign of the Labour Party’s insistence to cling to power at all costs.
“Once more, the Labour Party has been caught lying to citizens of this Federation. Peter Wickham himself has indicated he did no such poll. As a matter of fact, it was only a few weeks ago that he said in an interview with Carib Update that the more and more the Labour Party insists on changing boundaries, the more and more they are alienating the middle class and its own supporters.
Nigel Carty should apologise to both CADRES and the citizens of this country for trying to mislead them. It doesn’t take any poll to tell anyone the Labour Party is on its way out of government and that elections should be called as soon as possible so that we can get on with the governance of this country.”
