By *Jomo Sanga Thomas
(“Plain Talk” Nov. 27, 2020)
Yet again, an official of the ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) has brought into question the secrecy of the ballot. This is the second time in just over a decade that prominent individuals in the ULP government have made the claim that the party’s leadership knows the political choice of citizens.
Back in 2008, Julian Francis, the ULP general secretary and long-standing, successful campaign manager, told a stunned nation that he knew how the Syrians voted. This wild and sinister statement was repeated by Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves on Nov. 19, while addressing the nation on the state-owned National Broadcasting Corporation, NBC Radio.
Gonsalves said, “Despite what I did for the sailors, objectively, most of them voted against the ULP… And they form a network across the country — I am telling you — who opposed me.”
There is a lot that is wrong with this statement and those of us concerned about democracy and the democratic process in St Vincent ought to be both alarmed and concerned. We cannot remain silent.
All democracies pride themselves on the secrecy of the ballot. The vote during elections is reflective of the sovereign will of the people. Therefore, if PM Gonsalves and his party leadership know how people voted, it means that that the vote is not secret. To violate the secrecy of the ballot strikes at the heart of the democracy.
Without knowing what Francis and PM Gonsalves know, we remain convinced that the ballot is secret. If he speaks with scientific certainty in proclaiming that he knows for which party sailors voted, then he is admitting to violating the Constitution of St Vincent and the Grenadines. This boldface admission is nothing less than misbehaviour in public office.
Therefore, Gonsalves should be asked to stand in the Parliament and tell the nation, in a clear and detailed fashion, how he knew the manner in which the majority of sailors voted.
As we noted in the “Views and Issues” programme on SVG TV last Sunday, if Gonsalves cannot prove to the satisfaction of citizens how he knows what he claims to know, then we can only conclude that his statement was intended to spread fear and alarm in the nation, and to intimidate citizens. We recall that Patel Mathews, who lost by one vote, said some voters told him that members of the North Leeward constituency said intimidation was one reason they might have feared voting for him.
Whichever way we answer these questions, all citizens must ask: What manner of man is this? What kind of political animal leads our nation?
Here is a leader that has won five consecutive elections and yet remains unsatisfied. Gonsalves’ narcissism — his constant desire to crave the nation’s attention — has repeatedly brought unnecessary negative attention to himself.
His attitude begs the question: What shall it profit a man if he were to gain the whole world and in the process, lose his own soul?
Opportunity to clean up voters’ list
The Nov. 5 elections present our nation with yet another opportunity to clean up the voters’ list. During those elections, more than 65,000 Vincentians cast their votes for the party of their choice. The opposition New Democracy Party (NDP) garnered 32,859 votes while the governing ULP received 32,329. This was a very high turnout considering the fact that there remains residual fears about the coronavirus.
One of the priorities the new Parliament should tackle is a way to make the electoral list as accurate as possible. One way to do this is for parliamentarians to agree that the only registered voters are who voted in the last elections. Following the agreement, the Supervisor of Elections should be mandated to purge the list of all remaining names.
The voters’ list has more than 98,000 names. We are a country with about 106,000 people. We know that about 32,000 Vincentians 17 years and under. Therefore, we can safely account for 97,000 Vincentians. Many of the remaining names on the list are of persons who are dead or abroad. It means that less than 10,000 or 15% of Vincentians in the country made the decision not to vote in the last elections.
A voter turnout rate of close to 85% is an impressive amount. The turnout rate is a sign that our people remain interested in the democratic process. In Jamaica, the turnout rate in 2015 was 49 % and 37 % in 2020. In Trinidad, there was a 66 % turnout in 2015 and 58 % in 2020. The turnout in the Jamaica and Trinidad elections was negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, all effort should be made to encourage even more Vincentians to register and vote, while ensuring that the voters’ list accurately reflects the number of eligible voters.
The Organisation of American States Democracy project offers assistance to member states to address these matters. We should access such assistance to ensure that our system of elections becomes even more transparent.
The office of the Supervisor of Elections can then embark on a voter registration drive to ensure that all eligible voters are included. It should be equipped with mobile caravans that travel across the nation to encourage registration. We should also put in place a system to facilitate automatic registration of persons who get driver’s license, and connect the Registry with the Electoral Office so that once per month all registered deaths can be sent to the electoral office, so that names of dead persons can be removed.
There is really no reason why we cannot have a more accurate list. All we need is the political will of legislators and the commitment of the workers at the electoral office.
*Jomo Sanga Thomas is a lawyer, journalist, social commentator and a former Speaker of the House of Assembly in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The opinions presented in this content belong to the author and may not necessarily reflect the perspectives or editorial stance of iWitness News. Opinion pieces can be submitted to [email protected].
Good God Have mercy election is over. put your trust in God Let Him be Judge. let Him bring Justice to All.step aside pray seek Him, and let Him do His Will, so is it In Heaven so must it be also on this earth it is time all politicians and everyone else put their trust in God the creator of this universe and let Him lead in the way He wants to Run the country in the end it’s not one of u that will get the Glory wether in power or not .God’s power are above every other power it is time to stop whining and complaining wether right or wrong it is God who has the final say, let Him be Glorified in St Vincent and the Grenadines for a change . Unless a nation is builder on solid foundation which is Christ no matter how long nothing won’t be accomplished.politicians put your trust in God let Him lead let Him Direct. your way is not His way your thoughts are not His thoughts .
Sorry in short Jomo Thomas disgusted me. He sold his soul for political affiliation and wealth.Then the thing exploded in his face, now he is trying to talk to anyone that would listen.too late Jomo, to late. just saying
Usually when there high pole numbers it means someone has stuffed the ballot boxes. It is a sure sign of voter fraud.
my sentiments exactly! Could it be that the ULP had a number of votes in the bank going into the election?
You are too late Jomo. I asked Ben and the NDP to examine the list since the last election, but little was done. You probably need a new party or leadership for the opposition. Friday is a lame duck and so is Patel. Ben had several church congregations he couldn’t and didn’t control. It will be difficult for anyone to take the seat from the ULP, simple because it still remains a Labour seat.
Now NDP has to rely on COVID-19 to take some ULP candidates out, or the chaos that may occur when Ralph wants to pass the torch to Baby Doc. Now Louis is out who will become the deputy leader? Will it be Saboto, since he didn’t get back tourism that he had a shining light from before he was sent to the dead-end (then) agriculture ministry?
He failed to get the ball rolling in that ministry, because the ULP emphasis was on tourism, which will take 3 or 4 years to raise its ugly head.
It’s Monty. But that is a fake leadership role.
hmm. What does Venezuela, Russia, North Korea, etc. have in common with SVG? electorate who purportedly have one leader in office for decades. what is the secret sauce?
I will never listen to what opportunists like Jomo Thomas has to say. However, I will like to say this that NDP has twenty years to win an election which it deliberately failed to win. No, more on this but to say like ULP, NDP will never, ever get my vote and I will never, ever encouraged people to vote for them again. They are too damn corrupted bur can only see ULP corruption. That’s why a lot people sat on their votes in stead of giving it to them.
Why they have not come clean with their election strategy? Their focus were on seats they thought they could have won while declining to run a campaign with the object of winning every seat. They make belief that Laverne was a democratic pick candidate in East St. George but she was actually, hand picked and rubber stamped by the so-called nomination election.
In Mespo they do themselves in big-time by getting rid of the other guy for Wylie. Friday, made a concerted effort in his hypocritical stance to get rid of the other guy by claiming that he was walking through the consitutency to get the people’s approval in his corruption, knowing fully well it was those NDP Wylie supporters he was canvassing and not a wide cross-section of voters in the consitutency. So damn sad for him and NDP corruption that they are in the cold now.