Head Table (left to right) Master of Ceremony and Supervisor of Elections, Pastor Leroy Benjamin; Chairman of the St. Kitts Christian Council, Archdeacon Valentine Hodge; the Commonwealth’s Special Adviser and Head of the Caribbean and Pacific Section, Ms. Juliet Solomon; CARICOM’s Assistant Secretary General, Ambassador Colin Granderson; St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister and Political Leader of the governing St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party, Hon. Denzil L. Douglas; Political Leader of the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) and Premier of Nevis, Hon. Joseph Parry; Chairman of the National Electoral Reform and Boundaries Committee, Mr. Raphael Archibald; Deputy Political Leader of the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) and Leader of the Opposition in the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly, Hon. Malcolm Guishard; Political Leader of the People's Action Movement(PAM), Mr. Lindsay Grant and Chairman of the St. Kitts Evangelical Association, Rev. Dr. Oldain Charles

 

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, JULY 19TH 2007 (CUOPM)– The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis said it is satisfied that plans for the implementation of a new electoral system in the next few months is progressing smoothly and that project managers from Fujitsu, a company out of Barbados contracted to develop the new National Registration System has been meeting with local counterparts.

 

Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Sustainable Development, Information and Technology, Sen. the Hon. Nigel Carty also disclosed that project managers from Fujitsu met Wednesday with officials from the Ministry of National Security, the Statistics Department, the Electoral Office, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance, the Registrar and the Ministry of Planning.

He said the officials were involved in discussions about the implementation of the project and that Cabinet mandated that the planning and implementation move swiftly to ensure the completion of the project within the shortest possible time.

Mr. Carty said that Cabinet during its second sitting for the week, received an update on the electoral reform process.

Cabinet noted the public’s awareness that National Advisory Electoral Reform and Boundaries Committee (NAERBC) headed by Mr. Raphael Archibald, MBE, as recently as last week handed over its report to the Parliamentary Constitutional and Electoral Reform and Boundaries Committee (PAERBC), headed by the Leader of Government Business in the National Assembly, Hon. Sam Condor.

This committee also has the following members: Hon. G. A. Dwyer Astaphan, Hon Vance Amory (replacing the late Hon. Malcolm Guishard), Hon. Dennis Merchant, Attorney General; the Hon. Shawn Richards and the Hon. Patrice Nisbett. Cabinet notes that the Parliamentary Committee will soon meet to consider the report from the NAERBC.

Minister Carty said Cabinet reiterated its commitment to the process of electoral reform in a very transparent and very inclusive manner.  ~~Adz:Right~~