Electoral Reform Secretariat
Church Street
Basseterre
St. Kitts


ERCC: CONSULTATIVE PROCESS WILL BESTOW CREDIBILITY ON NEW ELECTORAL FRAMEWORK

Basseterre, St. Kitts (August 26, 2006): Electoral Reform Consultative Committee (ERCC) Chairman Mr. Elvis Newton and committee member Mr. Douglas Wattley espoused the need for a consultative process, saying on ZIZ Radio’s Prime Talk on Thursday night that public deliberations will bestow credibility on the resultant electoral system.

Mr. Wattley told Prime Talk host Mr. Goldwyn Caines that, “We ultimately believe that if we use the consultative approach then what we produce would be more pleasing because people would have been part of creating that new system.”

There was no consultation of social partners or political parties when the St. Kitts and Nevis electoral system was last reformed in 1983 and 1984, as stated in the White Paper. Those reforms included the removal of a residency requirement to be eligible to register and vote.

The Electoral Reform Consultative Committee has published its consultations calendar in local newspapers (the full schedule is also posted on www.newelectoralframework.gov.kn) to generate people’s interest in participating when discussions are held between September 4 and October 13, 2006. It will hold consultations - some of them concurrently - throughout St. Kitts and Nevis. There will also be consultations in Anguilla; the British Virgin Islands; St. Maarten; the U.S. Virgin Islands; London, Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham in the United Kingdom; Toronto, Canada; and New York, Washington, DC, and Miami in the United States, where many Nationals abroad who come home to visit their family and friends - and to vote - reside.

Chairman Newton explained to Mr. Caines and the radio audience that the mandate of his committee is to facilitate the electoral reform process.

He made it clear that the committee will not attempt to instigate a particular outcome or tone of discussions. “We want the views and the concerns to come from persons, and our task is really to ensure that we accurately record the views and the concerns of those persons as opposed to us imposing our own views.”

In accordance with its mandate, the Electoral Reform Consultative Committee will have consultations whose format encourages healthy discussion. There will thus be ground rules prohibiting slander and name-calling, but free discussion of issues presented in the St. Kitts and Nevis Electoral Reform White Paper and the Report of the Commonwealth Assessment Mission on Electoral Reform in St. Kitts and Nevis will be welcome. (Links to both are on this Web site in the References section.) The ERCC will invite people to address their points of view to the Chair. Attendees will be expected to raise their hands to signal their intention to speak, and a committee member will indicate to them when they can do so.

All seven committee members - Mr. Newton (Chairman), Mr. Wattley, Mr. Clement “Bouncin” Williams, Mr. Clifford Thomas, Mr. Elvin Bailey, Mr. Clive Bacchus, and Ms. Mutryce Williams - will not attend every consultation because some of the public meetings are scheduled to run at the same time throughout the Federation. However, there will be at least three committee members at each consultation. For instance, between 7:30p.m. and 9:30p.m. on September 7 there will be two meetings: one consultation for Challengers, Boyd’s, and West Farm to be facilitated by Mr. Newton, Mr. Williams, Mr. Thomas, and Mr. Bailey at Bronte Welch primary school, and the other consultation for Dieppe Bay and Parson’s to be facilitated by Ms. Williams, Mr. Bacchus, and Mr. Wattley at Dieppe Bay primary school.

“Our job is to find facts,” said Mr. Wattley, “which would provide the evidence that inform the new and improved electoral system.”

He added, “It is what we call evidence-based policy making because what we are doing is creating a new and improved policy with respect to the electoral process or system in St. Kitts and Nevis. And the evidence is out there, resident within the people. So we are an instrument that is used to solicit and elicit that information, that evidence from the people.”

What is evident already is the fact that the state of the Voters’ List will inspire much debate. The Report of the Commonwealth Assessment Mission on Electoral Reform in St. Kitts and Nevis reads: Most complaints about elections begin with complaints about the voters lists and in St. Kitts and Nevis this has proven to be the case as well.

The report, which presents observations, conclusions, and recommendations based on an assessment team’s visit to the Federation between August 28 and September 8, 2005, continues, “The current population of St. Kitts and Nevis is approximately 38, 836 and the voters list as of May 2005 stood at 38, 388. The voters list for the 2004 election was 38, 865. Although there is a process of continuous registration where electors must visit in person the registration officer and complete a registration, every single group we met with reported serious shortcomings with the Voters’ List and lamented the lack of Voter Identification Cards.”

Besides the matter of the Voters’ list, the ERCC expects to hear discussions about voter qualification, the voter registration process, and election campaigns, according to Mr. Wattley. He added, “The committee is also looking for information on the conduct of the elections themselves on Election Day. We are also looking for information on the National Assembly Elections Act both in St. Kitts and Nevis. We want to make sure that every key aspect of the electoral process is dealt with.”

Chairman Newton said, “We should also promote discussion on the type of electoral system that would be preferred by the citizens who express their concerns...Finally we are expected to report our findings to a National Advisory Electoral Reform and Boundaries Committee. Our report really should consolidate, or should crystallize the main issues and recommendations raised by the public.”

The Electoral Reform Consultative Committee invites people to attend the consultations and speak out about their views on the St. Kitts and Nevis Electoral Reform process.

“I could almost guarantee you that this is one issue that just about every citizen has an opinion on,” said Mr. Wattley.

“Yes,” Mr. Newton quickly concurred.

“I have no doubt about that," said Mr. Caines last Thursday night. "I have no doubt about that."



Contact: Valencia Grant (869-762-6177)