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| Premier of Nevis the Honourable Joseph Parry |
(CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (August 25, 2006) -- Premier of Nevis the Honourable Joseph Parry has thrown the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) and his Nevis Reformation Party's (NRP) support behind the Electoral Reform Process.
Mr. Parry made the position clear on Wednesday August 23, 2006, during the official launch of the Electoral Reform Process at the Marriott Hotel in St Kitts.
He said the time had come for change in the electoral process and that the NRP had been asking for electoral reform for a number of years.
"For a number of years the NRP has been asking for electoral reform. In the year 2001 we actually contested the results of the Nevis Elections and did not get a hearing. We insisted that we must participate in the process, we must understand the process and we must work the process to the best of our abilities and capabilities. I daresay to all concerned, that we worked it well and we have won. The Concerned Citizens Movement was a great teacher and we were even better students.
"The electoral process, the electoral laws and the application of the laws have their advantages and disadvantages as we have in any society but I do believe that that the time has come for changes and the NRP as a Party and as a Government supports electoral reform and we will be part of the process," the Premier said.
To the persons charged with moving the electoral process forward, Mr. Parry said he expected them to demonstrate leadership, integrity of seriousness and maturity.
"I expect the consultative process will be thorough and will be carried out fully in all the villages of St Kitts but certainly and more importantly to me, in all the villages of Nevis. That all the stakeholders churches, Chamber of Commerce, youth and whatever groups that you have would be fully involved and would be given the opportunity to participate and that the reporting would be accurate, thorough and quick.
"I want to say this, that at the end of the exercise our interest is in efficiency. We want a system that is efficient, a system that is quick and makes us comfortable. We want to ensure that there is credibility because without credibility we would have failed. We would have failed ourselves and we would have failed the Caribbean people. I want to ensure that there is transparency because we speak much of governance these days and everybody must know exactly what is taking place. Let us leave no room for accusations although, let us face it, as long as human beings live on this planet you are going to have a problem everybody will not be satisfied," he said.
Mr. Parry also stressed the need for impartiality and ease of operation, voter identification, a system that is user friendly and the involvement of everyone in the process.
"All our citizens must be involved fully and must be given every opportunity to participate so let us work hard, let us work thoroughly let us work quickly and in the interest of the people of St Kitts and Nevis. I daresay if we do a good job we can become the model for the Caribbean. We can set the bar which other Caribbean Nations must beat and let it be said 10 years from now, 20 years from now, "we learnt from the people of St Kitts and Nevis'," he said.
~~Adz:Right~~Meantime, Honourable Malcolm Guishard Leader of the Opposition in the Federal Parliament and Deputy Political Leader for the electoral reform process.
Mr. Guishard said his Party had recognized that with development and growth, especially as the world had seemingly become borderless and people moved with little or no restrictions, there was the temptation to exploit and manipulate immigration in order to seize advantage over one's opponent. Therefore every effort should be made to minimise or to prevent corruption of the electoral process.
Among other issues Mr. Guishard raised were the threat of the ease of transferring voters from one constituency to another within the island or across the Narrows and where there were unscrupulous individuals, some voters could be facilitated with dual registration.
"The CCM is mindful that there have been instances of election regularities that have been contested in the court of law. The unfortunate thing is the judgment of the Court is administered sometimes years after the election.
"We do look forward to recommendations on how such irregularities can be minimised and or speedily addressed by the Court," he said.
Among those present at the official launch were the other members of the Nevis Island Administration.
