Grant accuses Douglas of manipulation
By Stanford Conway
Editor-in-Chief, SKNVibes
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Leader of the People’s Action Movement, Lindsay Grant
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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – LEADER of the People’s Action Movement Lindsay Grant has accused Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas and the Labour Party Government of manipulating the Electoral Reform process.
In a letter to Dr. Douglas, dated February 13, 2008, Grant said there is a growing perception in the Federation that the list of Electors is being manipulated by the government to provide an unfair advantage for the Labour Party to retain power against the people’s wishes.
“You are also aware that in the recent Election Petition Case brought by my party, the People’s Action Movement, the High Court granted our prayer and declared that the process of voter registration in St. Kitts-Nevis is flawed and that persons are not entitled to register and vote in a Constituency where they have never lived. The reliability and integrity of the voters register is crucial for any election,” Grant said, adding this is the proper law as stated by the Court.
He also rebuked Dr. Douglas on his call to constituents to “register and vote anywhere they like”, noting it as a violation of the Federation’s Constitutional provisions in relation to the Constituency Boundaries system.
“It is this illegal activity of your supporters, coupled with other election irregularities, which created unfair swings in your favour, prompting our application to the Court for relief.
Now that the Court and the various Election Committees have spoken, you have chosen to ignore the Court and the good advice of the Election Committees appointed by you, and have proceeded to re-certify the illegal voters in the same Constituencies where they have never lived,” Grant said.
He pointed out that Dr. Douglas’ recent announcement of recertifying voters’ registration at overseas embassies excludes all other political parties as well as the Electoral Commission. ~~Adz:Right~~
“This you have proceeded to do, boasting at a recent press conference that you are the one, ‘driving the process’ to the exclusion of the Constitutionally appointed independent Electoral Commission, in spite of your obvious political bias and conflict of interest,” he said.
Grant noted that stakeholders including the Chamber of Industry and Commerce had called upon the Prime Minister to clean up the corrupted voters list and to provide Voters’ Identification (ID) through the Electoral Commission.
“These pleadings,” he said, “you have also ignored, deciding instead to promote a National ID card to be controlled solely by your Labour Party Government, and which is also to be rendered unnecessary for presentation at voting if one can produce any government issued ID.”
The opposition party’s leader also accused Dr. Douglas of taking over the Election Registration Office by providing its staff with individuals transferred from “the mouthpiece of your party [the Labour Spokesman newspaper]”.
Commenting on the February 12, 2008 interview of the Supervisor of Elections on Von Radio, Grant said he did not have a clue concerning the procedure currently taking place and the Junior Minister of Information was the main spokesperson that evening.
He told the Prime Minister that his constant talk of “democracy” and “transparency” must be demonstrated by his actions. “You are in fact currently engaged in a reconfirmation exercise without there being any statutory rules and orders in force. They are still in the process of being drafted, according to a statement on WINN FM on Tuesday, February 12 by the Attorney General that the draft was being ‘fine tuned’ by the drafters and should be ready by the end of the month, this is both ludicrous and illegal.”
Grant declared that the Attorney General’s statement was in direct conflict with an earlier statement made by Minister Carty that Dr. Douglas had already signed off on the draft before leaving for Taiwan, and that the order was with the printers.
He stated that the PAM is well known as a peaceful party and its executives are concerned that the Prime Minister’s and his government’s actions are causing anger and dissension among the population, and the possibility exists that undesirable consequences might occur.
“We hope therefore, that you will allow good sense to prevail, and at a minimum have a fresh and clean registration of voters, overseen by a completely independent body,” Grant said.
The opposition party’s leader told Dr. Douglas that the manner in which he is manipulating the Electoral Reform process would lead any party concerned about free and fair elections to make a decision concerning their participation in future elections “under these fraudulent and illegal conditions”.
