BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WHILE it described polling as “peaceful and successful”, the Commonwealth Observer Mission to the Federation’s recent election said there are still “issues of substance” concerning the quality of the local electoral processes.
Over the weekend, the three-person team headed by New Zealand politician Chris Carpenter released its final report on the January 25 election that returned the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party to power for a fourth consecutive time.
“While the campaign was vigorous and openly conducted by all major parties, there were issues in the electoral environment that gave legitimate cause for concern – in particular, the lack of equity in the access of parties to state-owned media and a lack of broad and transparent consultation in the appointment of electoral officials,” read a section of the report.
“While the reconfirmation process and new voter identification procedures have improved the integrity of the roll, the changes have fallen short of fully clarifying and reforming the residency requirements under the law….[It] remains open in many cases to voters choosing the constituency where they wish to be registered, leaving the process vulnerable to manipulation.”
The Commonwealth Mission arrived in St. Kitts in early January and spent several days acclimatising to what it called “the highly politically charged environment”, consulting with all political parties, the national NGO coalition and several media houses. Observers visited almost every polling station on Election Day and were present for the transportation and counting of some ballot boxes.
The 41-page report commended the electoral office, poll officials and the overall election apparatus. It noted that security personnel displayed “professional and appropriate” behaviour and did not exhibit intimidating or partisan conduct.
However, concern was expressed at the protracted progress of voting lines in some constituencies, as well as the “exceedingly slow” vote-counting procedure.
A system of complete re-registration, the redistribution of electoral boundaries, the introduction of campaign financing legislation and a code governing media conduct are among the international observers’ 14 recommendations. They also called for the strengthening of the local electoral office and increased voter education and NGO participation.
“Concerns about media bias were raised by opposition parties and some ordinary voters as well, particularly in reference to the sole television channel (ZIZ) which is government-owned and controlled, and on which only the ruling party appeared to receive coverage.
“On the broader question of civic education and the importance of participation in the democratic process, little work appeared to have been done.”
This is the third time the Commonwealth has fielded an observation team to the general election (1995 and 2004). In 2005, the global organisation sent an assessment mission to the federation, resulting in the government’s 2006 launch of the electoral reform process.
