PM Gonsalves congratulates Team Unity on victory in St. Kitts
Prime Minister Gonsalves
By Kenton X. Chance KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, Feb. 17, CMC – St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves Tuesday expressed his disappointment that the Supervisor of Elections in St. Kitts-Nevis is “yet to declare the results of the preliminary count “of Monday’s general election in the twin-island Federation.
Mitchell addressing a news conference here said his administration was also perturbed that the Supervisor of Elections, Wingrove George has not put “appropriate measures in place to affect the final count in accordance with the law and established practice”.
Efforts to contact George have so far been fruitless, but earlier, an announcer on the state-owned ZIZ radio and television said the count had come to a halt.
“The count in St. Kitts-Nevis has come to a halt. The Supervisor of Elections has advised that for the rest of this morning in any event, no further public announcement will be made in respect of the count.
“We wait to hear what exactly has transpired in the last hour or so that we had the delay which would have led to us being in this situation,” said the announcer.
She said at the moment three seats had been declared for the ruling St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party/Nevis Reformation Party and one for Team Unity.
congratulated Team Unity, an amalgam of three opposition parties, on winning the general elections in St. Kitts and Nevis, although the result have not been declared officially, 18 hours after polls closed.
Gonsalves said that Prime Minister Denzil Douglas, who was seeking an unprecedented fifth consecutive term in office, has done tremendous work for the region generally and in St. Kitts and Nevis in particular, especially in the area of non-communicable diseases.
“And Dr. [Timothy] Harris, I know him, I know other members within Team Unity and I want to congratulate them on what all information that has come out of St. Kitts despite the uncertainties, that it appears as though they have done well and would be forming the government,” Gonsalves said.
“We cannot have the Office of the Supervisor of Elections in any country not conclude in a timely fashion their legal and customary mandate, that is to say, to have the vote counted preliminarily, to have a final country start,” Gonsalves said.
He noted that in St. Vincent and the Grenadines citizens get the preliminary result of general elections before they go to bed and the final counts takes place at 9 a.m (local time). the following day so that the Supervisor of Elections and return the election writ to the Governor General.
“That’s how the system works. So, the Office of the Supervisor of Elections is critical in this regard. And in the conduct of the ditties of any Supervisor of Elections, he or she is required to take no instructions for anyone in the conduct of his or her duties; they have constitutional independence. So I think all those things must be stated,” Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves said the “unprecedented tardiness” of the Office of the Supervisor of elections to announce the preliminary results and effect the final count election results “has given rise to unnecessary uncertainty, particularly against the backdrop of controversies surrounding the motion of no confidence against the government and the alteration of the constituency boundaries”
Opposition lawmakers in the federation have failed for more than a year to have a motion of no-confidence in the Douglas administration debated, although the government has lost the support of the majority of lawmakers.
Last week the London-based Privy Council — the nation’s final court — ruled that the elections should be fought on the existing boundaries after the opposition legislators had been successful in getting it to reverse earlier court rulings that the procedures undertaken to ensure that the voting takes places on new boundaries had been followed.
“The democratic institutions of state, namely the law courts and the general elections themselves have worked satisfactorily despite hiccups along the way. It is not acceptable for the Office of the Supervisor of Elections to abdicate its legal and customary obligations or responsibilities,” Gonsalves said.
“Peace, patience, and enduring calm are requisites now more than ever for the political leaders, civil society and the people of St. kits and Nevis,” he told reporters.
“Mature political leadership, wedded to the values of democracy, constitutionalism, law and order is especially required. All must accept the verdict of the people in the highest traditions of the practice of democracy in our Caribbean civilisation.”
Gonsalves said he has spoken to Douglas, who heads the St. Kitts and Nevis Labour Party, and Timothy Harris, leader of Team Unity.
He told reporters he has also being in oral communication with other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) prime ministers, including Dominic’s Roosevelt Skerrit, chair of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) of which St. Kitts and Nevis is a member.
Gonsalves said that he has expressed his government’s views on the matter to secretary general of CARICOM and other important Caribbean personalities, but had been unable to reach chair of CARICOM, Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Perry Christie.
He said that his government continues to respect the independence of all constitutional institutions in St. Kitts and Nevis.
“We recognise too the commitment of CARICOM and the OECS to the upholding of our profound democratic values, as expressed in their foundation documents,” he said.
Gonsalves, who also read a prepared statement, said that the statement was being sent to other leaders in the region and that he was hoping for a joint statement along those lines through the OECS and CARICOM.
“I wants to say that the latest information I received from St. Kitts and Nevis just a couple of minutes ago is that everything appears to be calm and that there is a growing recognition across the country that Team Unity has won the elections.”
He said authorities in St. Kitts and Nevis have not requested assistance from the regional security system.
“It is an indication that everything is calm,” he said.
NGO coalition condemns Supervisor of Elections
Chester Humphrey
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, Feb 17, CMC – A group of non-governmental organizations (NGO) Tuesday said it would hold the Electoral Commission “legally responsible” should the Supervisor of Elections Wingrove George fail to disclose the winner of Monday’s general election in St. Kitts-Nevis.
In a letter sent to both George and the Chairman of the Commission, Hesketh Benjamin, the NGO coalition said failure to announce the results “could have very negative implications for the rule of law and the reputation of our country.
“The Commission will be held legally responsible for any failure in this regard,” the group, including the St. Kitts-Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the St. Kitts Christian Council and the St. Kitts-Nevis Bar Association, said.
The elections had been contested between the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) and Team Unity, an amalgam of three opposition parties. They were seeking control of the 15-member National Assembly.
The opposition party says it has won at least seven of the seats in the elections giving I control of the parliament.
Prime Minister Denzil Douglas was aiming to become the first regional leader to win five consecutive general elections.
Both parties had fielded 11 candidates each, but the state-owned ZIZ radio announced early Tuesday that there would be no more announcements of election results.
“The count in St. Kitts-Nevis has come to a halt. The Supervisor of Elections has advised that for the rest of this morning in any event, no further public announcement will be made in respect of the count.
“We wait to hear what exactly has transpired in the last hour or so that we had the delay which would have led to us being in this situation,” said the announcer on the state-owned radio and television station.
She said at the moment three seats had been declared for the ruling St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party/Nevis Reformation Party and one for Team Unity.
“St.. Kitts-Nevis still stands waiting to see what the outcome of the elections in St. Kitts-Nevis will be. We continue to monitor the situation …and keep you informed,” the announcer said.
In the letter, the NGO coalition said that George had “blatantly and without the slightest attempt at an explanation, abdicated your responsibility to keep the people informed of the results of the count of ballots in the eleven constituencies.
“Your excessive and unsettling delays over the curse of last night in announcing the results and the subsequent announcement by the Opposition Team Unity of the results of the election in the constituencies in which the count was concluded lead us to no other conclusion that your disgraceful conduct was intended to subvert the will of the people as expressed in the general election.”
The group urged George to complete his \’constitutional duties immediately by announcing the election results…”
