| The People's Action
Movement (PAM) has made its intention known that it
will challenge the results of the January 25th elections
in the High Court. Marvin Edwards, National Campaign
Manager for PAM announced the controversial move on
Wednesday, against the backdrop of a 6-2 defeat at the
polls at the hands of the St. Kitts Nevis Labour Party.
PAM won electoral districts #5 and #8 with candidates
Hon. Shawn Richards and member of parliament-elect Eugene
Hamilton respectively.
PAM is reportedly
challenging the results of constituency #4, #2 and
#1, contested by party leader Lindsay Grant, Roy Fleming
and Glenroy Blanchette respectively. Fleming lost
to Labour newcomer and sole female candidate Marcella
Liburd 1777 votes to 1536 and Blanchette lost to Hon.
Dr. Asim Martin 1907 votes to 1476.
One of the biggest
losses of Election Day was that of Grant to Labour
first-timer Glenn 'Ghost' Phillip in constituency
#4.The controversy began when Phillip lost the ballot
box in his home village of Challengers at the onset
of tallying, but by the end of the count, Phillip
was declared winner with 1185 votes. His total was
a mere 29 votes more than Grant's 1156.
"Mr. Grant last
year February objected to the wrongful inclusion in
the list of voters of 60 persons who do not reside
in the Constituency. No adequate arrangements were
made by the Office of the Supervisor of Elections
for the hearing of the 60 objections," a PAM
press statement said.
Tensions had rose
in the various polling stations throughout the constituency
as PAM supporters contended that some individuals
showing up to the voters' box were not residents in
the constituency. One incident in Halfway Tree threatened
to become violent and police were called in. PAM leader
Lindsay Grant and Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas,
leader of the SKNLP also arrived on the scene to ascertain
the cause of the confusion. According to an informed
source, PAM supporters prevented a large group of
voters they claimed were residents of the Newton Ground
and St. Pauls area from casting their votes only to
have the same group return under the protection of
Dr. Douglas and armed members of the security forces.
The irate PAM supporters
were cordoned off and the persons allowed to vote.
Many have stated that the incident is a recurrence
of the 2004 elections in that same constituency when
Grant lost to Hon. Rupert Hubert by 51 votes amid
similar allegations. A PAM communiqué said,
"It is clear as clear can be that the country
wants a change of Government, and that the results,
particularly in Constituency #4, #2 and #1, are not
going to be accepted by the people without a fight."
The Observer spoke
exclusively with Attorney-at-Law Chesley Hamilton,
National Spokesperson for the PAM who informed that
there was no rush to the courtroom doors. "We
have 21 days after the election to make challenges
and it takes time to get a solid case together. You
have people who will say all kinds of things but it's
another thing to get them to swear an affidavit as
to what they saw, sometimes because of intimidation
by higher forces. It all depends on the tangible evidence
to support the allegations," he said.
The attorney informed
that the challenge of the election results would be
more than challenging individual voters as there was
widespread fraud committed by election officials.
"There was fraud on an official level. You had
election officials not carrying out their jobs. Certain
infractions were perpetrated because there was no
way other than looking at a person's face to verify
the authenticity of the National ID card and the presenting
of the ID card was not even mandatory."
A 14-man OAS election
observer mission reported on Tuesday that it was satisfied
with the overall election process and made several
recommendations that would make the voting process
more efficient.
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