BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – SOCIAL COMMENTATOR Washington ‘Washie’ Archibald has held that advice given by Prime Minister Dr. Denzil L. Douglas regarding polling day could potentially thrust the nation into a state of unrest.
According to the candid educator, the leader of the St. Kitts Nevis-Labour Party, Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, has made statements to the effect that what matters in an election is not where one lives but rather where one is registered.
Archibald describes this as a “travesty” and suggested that statements such as this are capable of producing a skewed result at the polls.
“This is a profound statement. This statement will determine elections and this statement is designed to produce wrong results in an election. And there can’t be anything worse than an election with a wrong result.”
Archibald opined that “registration on an electoral list should be determined by the fact that they live in that area”, and warned that the skewed result which this principle is likely to bring, would frustrate the electorate.
“…and what is worse is that that principle has been brought on the Kittitian scene where, if you live in St. Paul’s, you could vote in old Road because all you have to do is to get registered in Old Road regardless of where you live. And the result is that a number of people from St. Paul’s, Newton Ground and Saddlers have been planted about in various constituencies to get a skewed result, which will frustrate the people who live in the constituency and who have the monopoly of the rights to vote in that constituency.
“This injustice is wrong and this is going to lead inevitably to unrest because you cannot do anything about it. So, you as a citizen living in a constituency…want X to be your representative, people who live in other constituencies will come and register in your constituency and they want Y to be the representative. Y isn’t what you want; you want X. They, from outside, will determine that X is not good for you and they will bring in Y to represent you. This is laying the groundwork for riot and bloodshed.”
The renowned educator, historian and social communicator noted that it is not a situation where persons would scheme and plot to cause bloodshed, but rather one where persons may possibly attain that level of aggravation and act on impulse.
“It isn’t that a group of people are going to stay there and plot any bloodshed. Some ignorant person who has nothing to lose would reach the level of frustration…and they would be going on a rampage. People have gone on rampages for less than this, and I don’t know how they could reverse it now. But this is going to have serious consequences.”
