In their Report, the CARICOM Electoral Observation Group on the Nevis Island Assembly Elections makes a number of “recommendations with the hope that due consideration will be given to them”. And indeed it is right and fitting that “due consideration” be given to the Report of our Caribbean brothers and sisters who came here to observe the election at the invitation of the Government, and with the approval of the other political parties in the country.
Any objective reading of the CARICOM Report will disclose that there are important changes that need to be made to our electoral system, practices and laws. The Report’s diplomatic language does not mask the Observation Group’s sense of discomfort on a number of matters.
One recommendation of the Group is that a review be conducted “of the Voters List and the registration process to ensure that only those who meet the eligibility criteria and who are domiciled in Nevis as defined within the present construct of the relevant legislation are listed.” “It would appear that even with the changes that were implemented to improve the quality of the Voters List, there is still some laxity in the system allowing for voters to choose where they wish to be registered. The recommendation is, therefore, being made to conduct another re-verification/reconfirmation exercise to clean the list ….”
To my mind, this is a serious indictment of the current Voters List and deserves not merely “due consideration” but urgent action by the Government, and the meaningful involvement of all of the political parties represented in the National Assembly and the Nevis Island Assembly in a principled rather than merely opportunistic manner.
Two points that have clearly emerged out of the saga of the last Nevis elections are: First, that allowing persons living outside of St. Kitts and Nevis to register to vote creates many problems; and second, that it causes political parties to spend huge amounts of money to fly in voters to swing the outcome.
Without turning back the clock to the unacceptable registration criterion of property ownership, it is virtually impossible to verify - in a principled manner - in which constituency a non-resident voter ought properly to be registered. Giving notification of challenges and objections to overseas residents is also seriously problematic.
On the second issue, the massive amounts of unaccounted-for money spent by candidates, their parties and supporters to fly in overseas voters is wasteful and encourages corruption of politicians. Surely our political leaders must be uncomfortable with the amounts of money they have to raise or attract to cater for such visits by overseas voters, very few of whom pay their own way.
The contribution of our diaspora is important to our country, yes, but their registration and voting cannot be accommodated in a principled, rational manner where everyone must register and vote in a particular geographic constituency.
These issues, and the recommendations in the CARICOM Report, need to be seriously considered by our citizens and political parties. Ideally, all of the political parties should identify high-level representatives to meet and dialogue directly with one another on the CARICOM Report to at least explore the possibilities of political consensus on some issues. The CARICOM Report would be a good basis for such discussions.
Successful electoral reform must be about building broad public and cross-party confidence in the central democratic event in any country: election of a Government and an Opposition. Election laws, regulations and procedures must articulate principles that are clear and which create confidence that both the registration process and the poll are fair and seen to be so.
CARICOM did not come here to favour or embarrass anybody. They called it as they saw it, and they understand us. Indeed, they are us, and we should respect ourselves. If we invite people to come and tell us what they think, we should think (and talk) about what they tell us.
