BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – NEW information has come to light regarding proposed changes to the electoral boundaries in St. Kitts and Nevis, courtesy of St. Kitts opposition party the People’s Action Movement (PAM).
Party lawyers are currently engaged in a judicial review of the work of the Constituency Boundaries Commission (CBC), a legal entity with the mandate of reviewing and altering federal electoral limits. As part of the court proceedings, PAM’s legal team obtained copies of the minutes of the CBC meetings held in November.
During an emergency press conference yesterday (Dec. 2) at the Ocean Terrace Inn, PAM Political Leader Lindsay Grant outlined the changes as proposed in a November 16 meeting of the Commission. Members present at that meeting were Chairman Anthony Johnson and parliamentarians Hon. Cedric Liburd and Hon. Earl Asim Martin, as opposition parliamentarians Hon. Vance Amory and Hon. Michael Perkins had tendered their resignations just days earlier.
According to Grant, the modifications are:
The communities of East Park Range, Victoria Road, Warner Park, Wellington Road, Taylors Range and New Pond Site would move from Constituency One to Constituency Two. In light of this new addition, Frigate Bay North would be moved from Constituency Eight to Constituency One.
Constituency Eight would pick up the villages of Ottley’s and Upper Cayon to accommodate the loss. Irish Town, McKnight and Greenlands would become part of Constituency Three, while the areas of West Farm, Boyds and Fairviews/Palmetto Point would exit that constituency for Number Four.
Constituents in Number Five will be increased with the addition of Newton Ground from Constituency Six.
Meanwhile in Nevis, the communities of Low Ground, Brown Hill, Cane Garden, Morning Star, Brown Pasture, Cole Hill, Bailey’s Yard, Pond Hill, Beach Road, Hermitage, Cole Hill and Montpelier Estate would all move from Constituency Nine to Constituency 10, leaving Number 11 as the only untouched district in the Federation.
In denouncing the changes, Grant said that the ruling St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party’s “naked lust for power and money” was causing them to “frustrate the will of the people”. He stressed that his party would continue to use all legal mechanisms available to them to fight the proposed changes.
“The government is not interested in fairness and has no regard for democracy. Their attempt to gerrymander the boundaries is proof that they intend to hold on to power for five years no matter what the consequences. They are waging a dirty war on democracy in the style of Saddam Hussein,” Grant accused.
“[Prime Minister] Dr. Denzil Douglas knows he cannot win a fair fight; his own polls have told him that very same thing. He is on the verge of losing the election and he wants to hold on to power at all cost. He is subverting the will of the people. PAM has fought a valiant fight on behalf of the people in the court over the past few months.”
Added the opposition leader, “In 2002, Douglas said he had insufficient time to engage the electoral reform process. Yet, 14 days before the automatic dissolution of Parliament, he wants to change the boundaries. That is not democracy.”
Grant said that his party is now calling on all “fair-minded people” to oppose the boundary changes proposed by the CBC and demand that the Prime Minister calls general elections on the existing delimitations of St. Kitts-Nevis.
