Electoral Reform Secretariat
Church Street
Basseterre
St. Kitts


ERCC MEMBERS PROMOTE PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS ON ZBVI AND ZROD

Tortola, BVI (September 8, 2006): Members of the Electoral Reform Consultative Committee (ERCC) delegation to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) visited the studios of ZBVI Radio 780 AM and ZROD 103.7 FM this afternoon, and did three interviews to heighten the interest of St. Kitts and Nevis Nationals in the public consultations being held over the weekend.

ZBVI and ZROD conducted a taped interview with ERCC member Mr. Douglas Wattley. The two radio stations will broadcast excerpts of each interview for their newscasts.

Mr. Elvin Bailey and Mr. Clement “Bouncin” Williams, the other two committee members here in the BVI, went live on ZROD after 4pm, with DJ Casual, who bantered and engaged them in what was decidedly an effective interview.

Enclosed is an excerpt.

DJ Casual: What has been some of the feedback that you guys have been getting from some of the St. Kitts and Nevis natives previous to coming to the British Virgin Islands? I know you guys have probably been some place else before coming here.

CW: We’ve done some consultations...in St. Kitts and Nevis, and the major concerns having to do with overseas voters, the people who live overseas...

DJ Casual: (Interjects) They want to know if they’re going to have a free ticket to come home.

CW: Well, we can’t talk about free tickets. Some people say they should not be permitted to come home. Some people say they’re not there to feel the pressure of the government that is elected; they come, they vote, and they run away and things like that. There is a strong belief that a citizen is a citizen is a citizen, whether he lives at home or abroad...

DJ Casual: (Interjects) I believe that.

CW: ...and he contributes. I mean, you know, a lot of our people who live abroad have property on the site, remunerations, the barrels, etc.

...

DJ Casual: Let’s talk about some of the major issues that have been discussed for the public consultations that you guys have been a part of. Can you guys shed some light on that right now?

EB: Well, yes and no. We don’t want to prejudice any of the discussions for tonight, tomorrow, and the following night, but as Bouncin has said one of the key issues that has been raised at home is whether Nationals living abroad should continue to come home and vote, and how. I have to explain here that Nationals mean those who were born in St. Kitts and Nevis, moved to the British Virgin Islands, and their children and their grandchildren. They have a constitutional right, as is now, to register to vote. So the big debate right now is whether they should be allowed to continue to vote, and the circumstances under which they would come and cast their vote. So it’s really very open, and we are asking people to come and make sure that they make their contribution because everybody’s contribution is important.

DJ Casual: So I guess the majority of people who either goes “no” or “yes”, that comes as the law.

CW: It is important, very important to get the response of the people. Prime Minister [Denzil] Douglas has said that he would not like to see anybody disenfranchised...

DJ Casual: (Interjects) Mhmm

CW:...that is stopping anybody from voting. He would want to get the opinion of the general public. I mean, come and have your say. That is one of the few issues. Now there are issues about campaign financing, how much money should be pumped into campaign financing. So it’s the whole gamut of electioneering.

EB: Let me read for the listeners from the, because the basis of our discussion is two reports; one Bouncin referred to the Report of the Commonwealth Assessment Mission, which was conducted 28th August to 8th September 2005, and the other is the St. Kitts and Nevis Electoral Reform White Paper that was tabled by the Prime Minister in the House of Assembly just last month. And on page 12 of the report - and we have reports for the people who come to the consultations tonight and beyond - the issues raised by the voting public to the Commonwealth Observer Mission were issues of voter registration; voting by persons not resident in St. Kitts and Nevis; duplicate registration; registrations of persons not resident or domiciled in St. Kitts and Nevis; double and triple voting; deceased electors on the list, and we get a lot of talk at home about that one; the ability to add electors to the voters’ list even on polling day; elections spending by both candidates and political parties; presence of foreign advisers; media bias; use of government resources; use of defective electoral ink; registration in constituencies where elector is not resident; no way to identify electors on the voters’ list, and a voters’ list that is outdated and is almost the size of the population of the country. These are indeed far-reaching accusations.

DJ Casual: You guys got a lot of issues to cover in two hours. Don’t forget you guys to check them out at Maria’s By the Sea tonight at 7:30 all the way through 9:30...These guys are discussing all the major issues regarding the elections for St. Kitts and Nevis in 2009. You guys gotta go out there and get your say, OK. If you don’t go, you don’t get the say, and these guys will just let things happen.



Contact: Valencia Grant (869-762-6177)