UPP is highly concerned that delay in Claims and Objections process could be deliberate and taint integrity of Voters List

The United Progressive Party’s Leadership and Candidates are concerned about the integrity of the final Voters List, given the apparent inaction of the Electoral Commission on Claims and Objections.

The Opposition Party is concerned that the delay could be deliberate, since weeks have passed without movement on the documents filed by several constituencies.

To date, the Party’s Scrutineers say, they have not received a single response to any of their objections – even in cases where additional information requested by Registration Officers has been supplied.

Spokesman Leon Chaku Symister tells REAL News that no report on how the Claims and Objections were handled has been submitted, and the Scrutineers’ repeated attempts to get answers have been ignored.

“We will be writing to the Chairman of the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission, demanding that it indicate what was done to address this breach in the law,” Symister says.

“We fully intend to pursue this matter to its logical conclusion, as we have been informed that decisions were made to deliberately ignore objections to registrants that have been submitted to the relevant channels.

He notes that elections in both Antigua and Barbuda have been won or lost by very small margins; hence, the Claims and Objections – some of which reportedly are in double figures – cannot be ignored, Symister says.

“We are firmly of the view that this flouting of the law is a slap in the face of the democratic process,” the attorney concludes.

This election cycle has seen record numbers of new registrants and, especially, transfers – the latter into specific, key constituencies, such as City East, Rural East, St. George, the highly controversial St. Peter, and Barbuda.  

This, pundits allege, is a deliberate move by officers in critical government agencies to increase the Labour Party’s chances of success at the polls.

One UPP Candidate has said repeatedly – with many voters agreeing – that “the ALP has never won an election fairly yet.”

Accordingly, Symister says, there is heightened concern about the lack of communication from ABEC  – especially since the polls are due on January 18.