Opposition echoes call for Voters’ List clean-up

The opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) on Wednesday called for the Voters’ List to be cleaned up, saying that 1,000 unqualified people identified in 2010 were still on the list.{{more}}

The party said in a press release on Wednesday that in preparing for the 2010 general elections, it conducted an exercise nationally, constituency by constituency, which identified persons on the list who were dead or outside of St Vincent and the Grenadines for over five years and were not eligible to vote.

“As a starting point, the process uncovered almost … 1,000 such names. The lists were presented to the Supervisor of Elections, but very little action was taken by her to clean up the list.

“The New Democratic Party again calls for the Voters’ list to be analyzed and cleaned up.

“Why the Government and the ULP have not urged the Supervisor to clean up the list is troubling to us in the NDP and the people in general,” the NDP press release quoted its shadow minister for electoral affairs Dr Godwin Friday as saying.

“It is clear that the Voters’ list is bloated and inaccurate. How can we have a Voters’ list that is approaching the size of the population of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and do nothing about it?

“This matter should be a priority for the Supervisor of Elections, especially since general elections can be called at any time,” the press release further said, quoting Friday, who is parliamentary representative for the Northern Grenadines.