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Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
April 08, 2010 (CUOPM)

The St. Kitts and Nevis Cabinet is to play close attention to the recommendations coming out of the Commonwealth Observer Mission’s Report following the January 25th 2010 General Elections.

Minister of Information, Sen. the Hon. Nigel Carty said that Cabinet Ministers at the recent Cabinet Meeting recently discussed the need to further improve the electoral system, reflecting on their Election Day experiences as well as on the recent spate of objections by opposition parties to the registration of persons in several constituencies.

Minister Carty said that Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, who has responsibility for Electoral Matters, has promised that the Report from the Commonwealth Observer Mission’s Report will be discussed at a subsequent meeting of Cabinet and emphasised the need to pay close attention to its recommendations.

“In relation to concerns pertaining to Election Day, the need was identified to have more manageable numbers of voters in some polling stations. This may require the creation of more polling booths in some locales,” Minister Carty disclosed.

He said that the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party Administration reaffirmed its commitment to further improving the Electoral System and working with those in the opposition to achieve this worthy objective.

Minister Carty also said Cabinet Members contended in particular that objections should not be made against persons who have been registered a long time ago and who had gone through an initial phase of objections before their names were certified to be on the register of voters.

He said Cabinet was nonetheless informed that most of the objections made had been eventually withdrawn.

“This practice of frivolous objections, it was concluded, undermines the right to remain registered and the right to vote in the elections. This is particularly worrying for overseas voters who may not be on island to defend themselves against the objections. Such persons may incur great expense to travel home to vote on Election Day only to recognise then that the mischief of the system has long disenfranchised them,” said Minister Carty.

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2. Government Accepts Recommendations Of The Commonwealth Report
3. Commonwealth Commends St. Kitts – Nevis Electoral Commission
4. Commonwealth Suggests Electoral Process Changes
5. Nevis Island Election – 10 Candidates Nominated

Constitutional Attorney – Anthony Astaphan
Photo By Erasmus Williams

Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
April 01, 2010 (CUOPM)

A prominent Caribbean constitutional attorney in Dominica says a judge’s declaration in Antigua that the election of three government parliamentarians was invalid, has no real bearing on election petitions now before the courts in Dominica and St. Kitts.

Senior Counsel Anthony Astaphan is representing Prime Minister Hon. Roosevelt Skerritt’s Dominica Labour Party (DLP) and Hon. Denzil L. Douglas’s St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) in court matters challenging results of recent general elections.

“The judgments are significant but are based on two issues that do not apply to Dominica,” Astaphan said reacting to word that Justice Her Ladyship Louise Blenman had declared the election of Prime Minister Hon. Baldwin Spencer, Tourism Minister Hon. John Maginley and Education Minister Hon. Jacqui Quinn-Leandro invalid, leaving the government in 7-7 tie with the opposition in a 17-member parliament.

Mr. Astaphan told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that the Antigua cases were decided on the issues of the late opening of the polling stations in some constituencies and the use of identity photographs which were not made available to the candidates or their agents, and as such were not relevant to the matters in St. Kitts and Dominica.

However, Astaphan said it was significant that allegations of bribery were thrown out by the judge.

“For those who think the rulings would have an adverse effect on the cases in Dominica or St. Kitts, they are wrong. Because the issues that are alive and on which the ALP were able to win are not in existent in the Dominican or St. Kitts cases in which I am involved,” Astaphan said.

The United Workers Party in Dominica has challenged the results in five constituencies based on alleged “election irregularities” and also contend that Prime Minister Skerrit was ineligible to contest the Vielle Case constituency on the grounds that he holds a French passport.

In St. Kitts, two defeated candidates in the January elections have petitioned the courts to determine that the election of two legislators of the opposition People’s Action Movement (PAM) be declared null and void.

Astaphan said he remains optimistic about the cases he was working in both islands, even after the ruling in Antigua.

“Where the Antigua Labour Party (ALP) failed, which is on the question of bribery, we will provide the items to the courts both in St. Kitts and Dominica because the judge made it very clear that you can’t rely on rumor, hearsay and inadmissible evidence and gossip to establish bribery and that unless you have strong compelling evidence you are not going to get past the threshold.

“You are going to have to prove a number of things in an election petition for bribery which the Antigua Labour Party was not able to establish … so to that extent those of us who are participating in the election contest in Dominica and St. Kitts will look carefully at that judgment on all aspects but more specifically in relation to those,” Astaphan told CMC.

Related posts:

1. Statement on St. Kitts – Nevis Election Petition
2. Dominica and Grenada Send Congratulations To PM Douglas
3. St. Kitts – Nevis Election Offenses
4. PAM Files Another Injunction Against Election Officials
5. Labour Candidate Wilson Withdraws Election Petition

MP – Shawn K. Richards

Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
People’s Action Movement
March 23, 2010

Defeated Labour party candidate for Constituency #5 Dr. Norgen Wilson yesterday officially withdrew his election petition which sought to challenge the nomination and election of PAM MP and Constituency#5 representative the Hon. Shawn K.  Richards.

The People’s Action Movement Deputy Political Leader was served the official Notice of Discontinuance at around 1:30pm yesterday March 22nd.  The Notice was served six weeks after the service of the election petition. Supervisor of Elections Leroy Benjamin and Presiding Officer for that constituency Dr. Hermia Morton-Anthony was also served with the court document, dated March 17, 2010:  . 

The three-page document reads, “Take notice that the Petitioner, Dr. Norgen Wilson, hereby discontinues this Petition against the Respondents”.

Wilson called for the election of Richards to be made null and void based on the allegation that MP Richards was a dual citizen at the time of his nomination on January 15.

Local online media outlet Sknvibes.com reported, “Efforts to reach Wilson were futile and attempts were made to contact Jason Hamilton of Hamilton and Company, the attorney representing Wilson in this matter, but were unsuccessful as he was in Court”.

“From the very beginning, I’ve said that the young man from Sandy Point [Wilson] was wasting his time, was wasting my time, was wasting the Court’s time and the public’s time. It would appear as though he has finally come to his senses and so when I saw the Discontinuance Notice just now, my first reaction was simply to laugh,” Richards told SKNVibes in an interview .

MP Richards has indicated that he will be seeking costs for his legal team whom he had already consulted for his defence in this matter.

This is one of 2 petitions filed by the Labour Party against People’s Action Movement candidates following the January 25th Elections. Peoples Action Movement MP Eugene Hamilton was also served with a petition to void his nomination and election based on alleged dual citizenship status.

“My expectations are that my defeated opponent Cedric Liburd and the Labour Party will likely follow the lead of  Dr. Wilson and withdraw the petition brought against me. As just like my colleague the Hon. Shawn Richards I have no citizenship for any other country and as I have expressed before, this petition is very frivolous and vexatious. Mr. Liburd has no case,” said Constituency #8 representative MP Eugene Hamilton.

Related posts:

1. Labour and Wilson Will Have To Pay Costs
2. Statement on St. Kitts – Nevis Election Petition
3. Two Labour Candidates File Petitions In Court
4. Labour Candidate Marcella Liburd’s Hypocrisy Exposed
5. Cheating Labour – Labour Too Cheat!