BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-FOLLOWING the successful completion of the 2010 St. Kitts-Nevis General Elections, members of the Organization of American States (OAS) Observer Mission have stated that they are “satisfied with the overall conduct of the elections”.
Speaking at a press conference held yesterday (Jan. 26), Chief of the OAS mission Steven Griner gave his team’s overall feelings and initial recommendations after more 24 hours of observation.
The team was composed of 14 persons, who made multiple visits to all of the 94 polling stations used in St. Kitts and Nevis. Griner said that his team found the conduct of the presiding officers, poll clerks and party agents to be professional at all times.
“Inside of those polling stations we thought that people were pretty well together and in many cases there was agreement beforehand, before they even opened up the ballot boxes, which ballots they would accept and what would constitute a null ballot.
“Overall, I think they worked very well together considering the circumstances,” the official said.
He did note that complaints were registered with the OAS mission that the indelible ink used to mark voters could be removed fairly easily, but the OAS team personally tested the ink and “despite their efforts, the ink quickly deepened in colour and permanence”.
While the OAS Observer Mission is expected to report its findings to the OAS Permanent Council within the next 10 days and a final report will not be available until sometime next month, Griner did outline the five main recommendations his team would be making.
The first had to do with the slow pace at which some polling stations managed the long lines of voters, and the OAS has recommended “limiting the number of registered voters per polling station to no more than 300”. This would likely involve the creation of several more polling stations for the next election.
Similarly, the OAS team found that the counting process was inefficient and caused undue anxiety for some of the closer races as they did not deliver their results until over 24 hours from when the polls first opened.
To correct this problem, the team recommended amending electoral law to allow a “preliminary count” of the ballots to be carried out at each polling station, which would then be verified by the Returning Officers the following day.
“This procedure, common elsewhere in the Caribbean, could make the count faster and more transparent,” Griner said.
Third, the mission recommended that political parties who presented objections to some of the names on the Voters List in specific constituencies should “provide evidence to the appropriate authorities in St. Kitts and Nevis for further investigation”.
In
terms of the electoral reform process for future elections in the Federation, the team had two major recommendations. The first was that a “house-to-house verification process” should be undertaken before the next election to make sure that the Voters List is accurate as possible.
The second recommendation made was that equitable electoral boundary changes should be undertaken “as soon as possible and should include all of the political parties represented in the Federal Parliament”.
Griner did state that the electoral law indicating that persons who were not voting must be at least 100 yards away from the polling stations was not “strictly enforced”, though he said his team did not find that this breach of the law prevented anyone from voting or made them “unduly intimidated” in any way.
He also praised the security forces of St. Kitts-Nevis present throughout the various polling divisions for “efficiently and unobtrusively maintaining security”.
The final report of the OAS shall be made available to the public through their website www.oas.org as soon as it is completed.
