Our elections are under threat! As we write, our very electoral process is under threat. The process is under-threat through inaction, and a failure to follow the laws which govern our electoral affairs.
It is also under-threat because none of the aspects of reform that have been agreed to in principle have taken place.
The desired adjustment of the boundaries has not taken place; and the new Elections Bill to govern our elections is yet to have seen the light of day.
There is a frightening lack of information about exactly what are the plans and the steps to ensure that the process becomes transparent and trusted. Any system shrouded in secrecy is a system already compromised by suspicion and open to manipulation. Nominal self-serving amendments are likely to further frustrate our aspirations for free and fair elections.
As Leader of the Opposition, I have written to the Office of the Attorney General and that of the Chief Minister, requesting even a sighting of the initial draft of the new Elections Bill, and the responses I have received have been inadequate and unacceptable. Any such Bill will have far-reaching consequences and must be published far and wide, inviting national consultation before it is taken before the House of Assembly.
There is talk of a complete overhaul of the system; including the addition of new districts, but, with the vote due in under two years, neither the people nor the likely participants know for sure what to prepare for. Whatever the powers-that-be are contemplating is being kept close to their chest, and one cannot avoid suspicion about the motive for this clandestine approach.
The time for any overhaul is now long overdue. Unfortunately, the seeds for hijacking the people’s vote have been sown over an extended period. The proposed amendments are likely to be self-serving, but let us have consultation at least. Let’s forget about the need for urgent reform for a moment; and the urgent need for the new proposed bill to be brought forward. Even what currently exists is being treated almost as a joke. We know, for instance, that many persons who are not eligible to vote are still registered and may in fact have voted in 2015. Yet there is no process being followed, or even, apparently, being considered, to rectify this travesty.
In recent weeks I have been in touch with the office of the Supervisor of Elections on a number of issues relating to the vote – and about the need for that office to act more aggressively and decisively in administering the current legislation. For, in that area, there have been extreme lapses – especially as regards the publication of quarterly lists in the context of the required continuous registration.
The failure to publish quarterly lists in support of continuous registration is in direct contravention of Sections 12 and 13 of the Elections Act. It should alarm every concerned citizen of Anguilla that continuous registration supported by the publication of quarterly lists has not taken place in the last 3 years! This state of affairs is totally unacceptable.
I am putting the powers that be on notice, that this is an issue over which I shall be relentless – and that this is a cause that I’d be willing to fight for with other people in the society. If Anguilla is to become a modern democracy, worthy of the name, reforms long overdue must be addressed now.
Plus, I would hope that the current Supervisor of Elections would show more concern for the flaws in the current administrative status quo; and would be more forthcoming in providing information that will aid in monitoring and transparency. Electoral reform and consolidation must not be reduced to a partisan issue, and all stakeholders, including social groups and churches, should join this crusade.
I have recently written a second letter to the Supervisor regarding the issue of voter identification. In fact, the response to my initial query about the issue took me by surprise, when I was asked “… what legal purpose would it serve to have another voter’s personal identification number?”. I have since referred the Supervisor to pages 5 and 6 of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association – British Islands and Mediterranean Region – Election Observer Mission Report on the Anguilla General Election April 2015. The mission stated that this is a necessary step to modernizing the process. It is my view that, in cases where there are persons with identical names on the same list, a unique voter identification number would distinguish them from each other.
I am extremely surprised by the apparent reluctance of the current Supervisor of Elections to embrace transparency in the voter registration process. I was also equally surprised by the turning down of our request from the office to be provided with a voters list for at least the last three previous elections. We were told in an e-mail: “This office is unable to provide you with the voters list from previous elections, save the 2015 General Election (which you should be in possession of).”
Now I wait to have clarified from that office what “unable” means, and what circumstance renders the office “unable”: or whether “unable” actually means “unwilling” – which then will need even further explanation. It is with the same breath that I also wait to understand why there has not been the continuous registration of voters, as current legislation requires that there should be.
In short, I challenge the government, who have an Elections Bill on the stocks which I have not yet been permitted to see, to table legislation, including any necessary amendment of the Constitution, that will eliminate the anti-democratic distortion resulting from the present arrangements.
