Opposition Criticises Government Decision To Ban Early Voting In St. Kitts-Nevis

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-Nevis, Mar. 23, (CMC) – Opposition Leader, Dr. Denzil Douglas, has criticised the decision of the St. Kitts-Nevis government to abolish legislation that allows law enforcement and essential services officers to cast their votes ahead of a general election.

Prime Minister, Dr Timothy Harris, said, his coalition administration will table legislation to strike down an amendment to the Electoral Act when Parliament meets on Wednesday.

But Douglas, under whose administration the legislation was approved, said, he remains baffled as to why the government would be moving to abolish the law.

“I am not certain why the government needs to amend or remove that Bill, that act, that law from the books of our country. I really don’t know, but there are so many other matters which, in my opinion, are of prime importance in the way we live here in St Kitts and Nevis.

“I see no reason why this has become a priority. The government, since they’ve been in office, has not brought any Bill that is fundamental in assisting us to live in a better way. We have taxes imposed, we’ve had legislative agenda that speaks to the mandate given from other countries for us to collect taxes for them etc., but I see nothing that has been passed in our parliament that speaks to an improvement in the quality of life for our people,” he said, in a statement.

Describing the legislation as, “part of the response of an insecure administration in its dying moment to steal the election,” Prime Minister Harris said, that the legislation “was unnecessary.”

“Given the size of our electorate, in general, the size of the electorate, in particular, that was to be given to the opportunity to vote early, there is no demand for early voting,” he said, adding, that the legislation “represents a callous waste of time of the electoral officials, places an unnecessary burden on our security forces and adds an unnecessary burden to a fragile, pressurized and politicized electoral system. Some polling stations reported no voters.”

Prime Minister Harris also said that the electorate was not fooled, noting that, “the majority of our police, nurses, EMT, and other bodies and persons saw the trap and by their non-participation rejected the perverse early voting”.

But Douglas, whose St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) lost the last general election last year, said, the bill was “modern in its approach to ensure that, before an election, there is early voting for essential services, especially security forces.

“So that on election day they would be available to ensure that there is peace and security at our polling stations and, generally, in the country for the democratic process to take place,” Douglas said.