By Liz Rahaman
Parliament on May 25 passed a resolution to start the process of electoral reform, based on advice made two years ago by the Commonwealth Electoral Observer Group.
In moving the resolution, Prime Minister Denzil Douglas said after reviewing various reports on the issue his Government has decided to reform the system.
However, according to the Eugene Hamilton, deputy leader of the People’s Action Movement, some aspects of Douglas’ route to electoral reform runs contrary to what was proposed in the Commonwealth Mission Report.
The Prime Minister has said the electoral reform process will not take place in a vacuum. He said various stakeholders in the community would have the opportunity to be a part of the process, including PAM.
“This Labour Administration now having considered the reports of the observer groups, have determined that this is an appropriate time to review the electoral system,” Douglas told the House of Assembly.
The 14-prong resolution provides that the process of electoral reform be initiated after a series of national consultations. Also, that a committee be established to facilitate the national consultations.
Further, the resolution states that the reform system must not disenfranchise any citizen who is qualified to cast their vote.
An established Electoral Reform Consultative Committee would be responsible for conducting national consultations to suggestions how the system should be reformed.
Also a National Advisory Election Reform Committee would be established, which would be comprised of a member from the Christian Council, who shall sit as the chairman; the Evangelical Association of Nevis; a representative of the St. Kitts/Nevis Trades and Labour Union, as the treasurer; the president of the St. Kitts Chamber, Industry and Commerce; a representative from the Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce; president of the Teachers Union; president of the Bar Association; Director of Youth and Representatives of the four political parties represented in the National Assembly.
The resolution states that the Electoral Reform Consultative Committee reports to the National Advisory Electoral Reform Committee, which would advise the Electoral Commission on major issues and preferences that emerge from the national
consultations.
It was further resolved that the Electoral Commission prepares a report for the Parliamentary Constitutional and Electoral Reform Committees, based on its opinions and information received on the proposed reform.
The Parliamentary Sub-Committee, drawn from the Parliamentary Constitutional and Electoral Reform Committee, would advise Parliament on the legislative action to take.
Also, the resolution states that the electoral arrangements for voter registration and identification of voters and the demarcation of constituencies be reformed.
The resolution calls for a completely new state of the art national registration system to be introduced.
The resolution authorizes that members of the Constituency Boundaries Commission be appointed in support of the reform process.
The Resolution also considered a re-registration process for all citizens and qualified persons, and called for balanced reporting by the media.
Meanwhile Hamilton told The Observer, that while his Party welcomes the move by the Ruling Party to reform the electoral process, it has “some” concerns about the independence of the Committees.
“It appears from the Resolution that a track is being designed by the Government that runs contrary to what was proposed in the Commonwealth Mission Report,” he opined.
In this context, he cited examples of the several Committees to be established, and pointed out that the Resolution does not state how the Consultative Committee would be appointed.
“It speaks only to how the Advisory Committee would be appointed, “he said, and questioned the role of the Advisory Committee.
Hamilton said that based on the Resolution, the Advisory Committee’s role would be “to just write a report on second-hand information obtained from somebody else, submit it to the Electoral Commission, who intern would report to the Parliamentary Sub-Committee, who in turn would advise Parliament…So my question is, what is the real value of the Advisory Committee?”
With his concerns expressed, Hamilton said that PAM stands ready to appoint persons to any of the established Committees that would ensure electoral reform.
“We would like to ensure that it is a transparent system and that the people have confidence; that what is acted upon is what comes out of the committees that are formed to carry out this exercise.
The idea of Reform is excellent, we welcome it, we are in need of it. We have been promoting this for a long while. We have talked about electoral reform before the 2000 election and the 2004 election and we got no reform before those times and we are hoping that the bureaucracy put in place is not to prevent a reform before the next election,”
