Electoral Reform Secretariat
Church Street
Basseterre
St. Kitts



STUDENTS IN COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL HAVE THEIR SAY ON ELECTORAL REFORM

Basseterre, St. Kitts (October 2, 2006): High school and college students voiced their recommendations today for the electoral system, making valuable contributions to the electoral reform process and - while they were at it - a marked impression on the Electoral Reform Consultative Committee (ERCC).

The ERCC held consultations with students of Cayon, Sandy Point, Verchild’s, and Washington Archibald high schools. Its members also met with Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College students, who are registered in the Arts and Sciences, Hospitality, and Tech. Voc. Divisions.

“It was very refreshing,” said Elvis Newton, the Chairman of the Electoral Reform Consultative Committee (ERCC) in an interview conducted by the Press Officer for the Electoral Reform Secretariat, Valencia Grant. “A lot of times there is the myth that young persons are not interested in what is happening, and we also sometimes are misguided about what really interests young persons but I believe it’s the way we present the messages to young people” that helps to propagate this myth.

“This afternoon and indeed for the entire day, we have been having very fruitful discussions with the young people. The views that they have been expressing are very strong, very strong views. Some of them I suspect will think more, so that they could refine their submissions,” Mr. Newton said. “By and large the views that we have been getting have really been very strong views and in some instances they have been more thought-provoking than what we have been getting from the Town Hall Meetings. Sometimes at the Town Hall Meetings, it is dominated by one group of persons, but at the college this afternoon and at the high schools this morning we heard a wide cross-section of opinions from the students,” the ERCC Chairman added.

There were three hot-button issues that seemed to polarize Arts & Sciences students at the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant Burdon Street Campus: whether or not a fingerprint should appear on the proposed voter I.D.; whether Nationals abroad should retain their right to vote, and whether residency requirements should be instituted for those Kittitians and Nevisians abroad before they can vote.

During the consultation at the Burdon Street Campus, Mr. Newton asked students, “If we have
voter identification, what are some of the things that you would want to see on a voter identification?”

A young man replied, “Well, I can’t say what I would like to see on it, but I could definitely tell you the only thing that shouldn’t be on it is whether I’m a Labour [Party] man or a PAM [People’s Action Movement Party] man.”

“OK, so you don’t want to see any political affiliation on it,” Mr. Newton reiterated the young man’s point. “What else would people want to see on a card?,” the Chairman asked. The students agreed that a person’s name, address, and date of birth should appear on the I.D.

“What about a fingerprint?,” Mr. Newton asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” affirmed some students. “No,” declared others. Everyone seemed to talk at once.

They moved on to another point of contention later in the discussion: the voting rights of Nationals abroad.

A young lady made the point that many Nationals abroad do not keep abreast of socio-political developments in St. Kitts and Nevis, so they really should not have the right to vote. Even if Nationals abroad do retain the right to vote, she added, they should undergo a residency requirement.

Some students said the suggested duration of this residency requirement ought to be five years, while others said two years in length, and the rest who had an opinion said six months.

Another young lady said that if Nationals abroad contribute to the economy of St. Kitts and Nevis through remittances sent home and businesses established at home, they should be allowed to vote. However, she added, the Government should not pay for them to come home.

A young man recommended that those Nationals abroad who would have the right to vote should be restricted to certain categories of people, such as students. “I’ll graduate from some foreign university and come back here to do my work,” he said.

Students also decided that political parties can raise their own money to buy plane tickets for Nationals abroad to come home and vote, but this must not be done with the government’s money, they said.

The following opinions were also heard: There needs to be some form of I.D. at registration; perhaps multiple forms. There needs to be implemented some kind of mechanism to scrutinize the voters’ list so that people can vote in the constituency where they live. The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis should pay for the provision of an I.D. system if its introduction is deemed important. Government should also increase its reliance on technology by computerizing the voter registration system and allowing for linkages, for instance by linking the Social Security Office to the Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages. In order to identify people who may not have a social security number, the system would need to provide a unique code to register them. Nationals abroad should spend their own money to come back home to register. There should be a two- to three-year residency requirement for Commonwealth citizens before they can become eligible to vote in St. Kitts and Nevis. With regard to the re-alignment of boundaries, consideration of the number of people registered to vote in a constituency should take precedence over the number of people in a constituency.

In wrapping up the consultation with the Arts & Sciences students, which he conducted by himself, Mr. Newton made an appeal to them. “As young people, it is important, it is very important that when you speak, you speak from an informed position. More importantly, because you all are here at the college, which is really the highest learning institution in the country, it suggests that you all are among the more intelligent persons in St. Kitts and Nevis,” he said.

“It also suggests that very shortly you all will be in a position to be determining what is happening in the country,” the Chairman of the Electoral Reform Consultative Committee (ERCC) added, “and so therefore when you speak, you should speak from a position of information. You can’t get information by not reading. So, I would suggest to you that you take the opportunity to become more informed about the issues of governance in St. Kitts and Nevis, and also that on every significant national issue that you must have a voice. You must develop a voice.”

Last month, the Electoral Reform Consultative Committee held a similar exercise in Nevis with students. Tomorrow’s Town Hall Meeting will be held at the Gingerland Secondary School in Nevis.





Contact: Valencia Grant (869-762-6177)