July 15, 2020
Supervisor of Elections, Mr. Elvin Bailey captures the title of “Mr. Willfully Blind.” Lately he has been breaking a sweat to earn his sugar-cake as an apologist for the coalition regime. Yesterday, his interview on the talk radio programme “Issues” aired on Freedom 106.5 FM was no exception. He tried his crafty best to make the case that the June 5th General Election was free and fair. He would make a great witness for the prosecution because he instead admitted that as the Supervisor of Elections, he is “biased” and hence, could not provide his opinion or give his assessment of the election. It is therefore no small wonder that he would go on to make excuses for the wanton, flagrant constitutional violations that took place and his repeated failure to safeguard our electoral process.
When asked what he thought about the Governor General’s rejection of all eight of the Returning Officers whom he trained and recommended, he insisted that his were only recommendations and that “the Governor General may or may not accept the recommendations of the Supervisor”. Bailey danced around the fact that none of the Poll Clerks and Presiding Officers were trained in 2020 and several of them had not even taken the oath or had their letters of authorization on Polling Day. The trained Returning Officers who were rejected were replaced by persons who appeared to be hand-picked by Dr. Timothy Harris himself. These questions were raised when the Prime Minister’s own brother-in-law, Jermaine “Sacky” Lake was among the new appointees. It is no wonder then that the Returning Officer for Constituency #4, who was also interviewed, refused to answer a caller who asked how many training sessions and on what dates was he trained.
Which elections did Bailey supervise? Is he alright?
On the issue of whether or not the ballot boxes met the constitutional requirements, Bailey declared that “the legislation says, the ballot boxes must be made of sturdy material with one padlock…they were sturdy, they had a padlock…they were not wooden, but they were see through, you could see your vote drop to the bottom.”
Every single voter saw for themselves that plastic zip ties were used to keep the plastic ballot boxes closed. Bailey has never seen a lock in his life? Part IV, Section 67 (ii) of the St. Christopher and Nevis National Assembly Elections Act (2009) which makes it mandatory that “…Every ballot box shall be made of some durable material with one lock and key…” No locks and no keys were used to secure the ballot boxes in any of the 129 polling sites across the Federation. Furthermore the use of “see-through” plastic bins further compromised the rights of voters to a secret ballot.
Which elections did Bailey supervise? Is he alright?
Bailey’s interview amounted to a gas-bag of nonsensical excuses and insulting untruths. He said that he made up for the two-hour delay in the opening of the Bird Rock polling site by allowing all persons who were in the line by 6 pm to cast their vote. He said that additional time was allotted and the additional time was at 6 pm. How can closing a polling site at precisely the same time it is due to be closed had it opened on time be considered “additional time”? There have been numerous reports that persons were prevented from voting when they arrived before 6 pm expecting the polling hours to be extended.
Which elections did Bailey really supervise? Is he alright?
The people of St. Kitts and Nevis cannot accept a stolen election. Bailey utterly failed to fulfill his role as Supervisor and to manage the process without fear or favour. As a result, the so-called results of the election cannot in good conscience be considered to be an accurate reflection of the people’s will. The failures Bailey hinted towards during his interview were absolutely appalling and highly unacceptable. The fact that he is bold-facedly defending multiple electoral irregularities is deeply disturbing. It reflects a willful and wanton disregard and disrespect for the democratic rights of our people. If someone in his position has such a mindset, where are we headed as a nation and as a people?
Photo 1: Voters Line Up on Polling Day
Photo 2. Plastic Bins Used at Ballot Boxes on Polling Day
Photo 3. Mr. Germaine Lake, Presiding Officer Delivering Chairs to Bird Rock Polling Station at 9 am.