St. Kitts Ruling Party Reacts To High Court Ruling On Constituency Boundary Report

BASSETERRE, St Kitts CMC – The ruling St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) Monday, said it believes the recommended changes contained in the Constituency Boundaries Commission will stand, despite an earlier court ruling that prevents Governor General Sir Edmund Lawrence from making any proclamation to effect boundary changes ahead of the next general elections.

SKNLP chair person, Marcella Liburd said in a statement, while the opposition had been successful in getting the court for a case to be brought in the constituency boundaries matter, “government believes that in the end the recommended boundaries changes will go forward thereby ensuring that the number of inhabitants in each constituency…will be roughly the same.

“I believe that in the end the recommended changes will stand there by ensuring that no one’s person vote in any constituency will have dramatically greater weight than a vote in any other, and that no longer will anyone parliamentary representative for meeting the needs of a constituency in which the inhabitants residing in that constituency is dramatically greater than the number of inhabitants in any other.”

Liburd, who is also Minister of Health, Social Services, Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, said that the twin-island federation is a nation of laws “and this matter will proceed in the courts.

“Let us all continue in our own ways to preserve and enhance all that we in this nation have built and may we be ever mindful of how bless we are to live in a nation in which our laws are made by our Parliament or disputes are settled by a judiciary that is independent and our governments are chosen by the ballot”.

In a 160-page judgment, Justice Darshan Ramdhani also ruled that the injunction filed by the opposition would remain in effect.

The St. Kitts-Nevis government of Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas had in September, filed a motion seeking to lift the injunction granted to the opposition that are seeking to block changes to the constituency boundaries ahead of the next general election.

The order granted by the Court prevents the Governor General from making any proclamation to effect the boundary changes based on the report of the Constituency Boundaries Commission, that were approved by parliament.

The judge ruled also there was no evidence to back the claim by the opposition legislators that the Constituency Boundaries Commission acted improperly.

Justice Ramdhani said if the Governor General was allowed to make the proclamation it would deprive the court of jurisdiction.

He also ruled that the respondents did not provide any good reason why the judicial review should not proceed.

In an immediate response, leader of the recently formed People’s Labour Party (PLP), Dr. Timothy Harris, said that he was pleased with the ruling.

“So we won today and we hope that the people of St. Kitts and Nevis will win every day moving forward,” he said, adding “we won fundamentally what we want, that we believe that to have proceeded with the boundaries report would have done an injustice to the people of St. Kitts and Nevis.

“For now nothing can happen, and the executive remains stalled in their mad plan, a vicious plan I would add, to undermine the democracy by this government which is illegitimate – that for us is an outstanding victory,” he added.

Harris, who is also leader of “Team Unity”, an amalgam of opposition groups here, said he was confident that when the opposition would prevail when the actual judicial review will be held. No date has yet been set for the review.