BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THOUGH sharp allegations were made by the opposition People’s Action Movement (PAM) party of vast irregularities and fraud in the January 25 General Elections, the party has decided to only challenge the results a single constituency it was unable to win.
Immediately after the elections, in which the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party won six of the seats on St. Kitts, PAM released a press statement making clear its intention to challenge the results of Constituencies Number One, Two and Four, with the latter being where PAM Leader Lindsay Grant lost by 29 votes.
Last week, SKNVibes spoke to a member of PAM’s legal team, attorney Vincent Byron, who informed that since the elections he has been “inundated with evidence of widespread irregularities at the polls”, describing said evidence as “credible” and “compelling”.
However, after filing the action in court last Monday (Feb. 15), the petition only challenged the results of Constituency Four.
Deputy Leader of the party and Representative for Constituency Five Shawn Richards told SKNVibes that even though they believe there was widespread evidence of irregularities on and before Election Day, his party was cognizant that the evidence must be enough to have influenced the outcome of the elections.
“One of the things to be considered was that in 2004 when we brought three petitions before the judge he spoke to giving consideration to the entirety of the allegations made to make a decision on whether they are enough to significantly affect the results in the particular constituency,” he said.
The petition was served to representative for Constituency Four Hon. Glen Phillip, Supervisor of Elections Leroy Benjamin and Chairman and members of the Electoral Commission Hesketh Benjamin, William Dore and Myrna Walwyn.
The 27-page document also lists the presiding officers, poll clerks and inside agents in Constituency Four, and outlined particulars supporting a “clear constitutional prohibition against voting where you do not live”.
The document dedicates a page and a half to voters whose names were objected to but still voted in Constituency Four. The list is comprised mainly of individuals who, according to PAM, live in Constituency Six—mainly from the St. Pauls and Saddlers communities.
Richards explained that while in larger constituencies there was an abundance of irregularities, they were “more noticeable” and would “have a greater impact” in Constituency Four.
“When we look at [Constituency] Four, which had approximately 40 persons [who] were objected to and there was no hearing and those persons still turned up to voted and there was a ‘victory’ with a margin of 29 votes, we had to make a decision to challenge these results; we had to make that judgement call,” he said.
Some 600 names have been objected to in total across St. Kitts and according to Richards would still be dealt despite the elections having passed.
Confidence has been placed on record that the outcome of the election petition would serve as a warning for voters to avoid irregularities and fraud in future elections, Richards said.
Efforts to reach PAM Leader Lindsay Grant were unsuccessful.
