By Staff Writer
ROSEAU, Dominica, Oct 14, CMC -The Electoral Commission says it has taken a decision that the confirmation period for voters will not be extended and that the exercise ends on Wednesday.
Chief Elections Officer, Anthea Joseph, said that the Commission at its last meeting had adopted the position but that the continuous registration will continue at the same centres until further notice.
“ From Friday morning we will reopen, and registration will take place,” she said, adding that “so after Wednesday there will be no confirmation taking place at any centre. However, registration continues, and persons will be able to access the same centres on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays during the week”.
The announcement by the Electoral Commission comes even as eight civic society organisations, including the Dominica Association of Evangelical Churches (DAEC), the Dominica Bar Association (DBA), the Dominica Employers Federation (DEF) and the Dominica Hotel & Tourism Association (DHTA) sent a joint letter to the Electoral Commission on the issue.
“We, the undersigned civic organisations, respectfully and urgently appeal for a three-month extension of the current voter confirmation period in the Commonwealth of Dominica,” they said in the letter, which was also copied to President Sylvanie Burton.
“Given the well-known and documented administrative and implementation challenges experienced throughout the process, and the resulting concerns regarding public confidence and participation, we believe that additional time is both reasonable and necessary,” said the group, which also included the Dominica Manufacturers Association (DMA). Dominica Public Service Union (DPSU) and the Dominica Business Forum Inc.
The group said that the current registration figures “clearly demonstrate the scale of the challenge,” noting that in the 2019 general election the voter turnout was 39,702 and the current confirmation count showed that 33,591 persons had been confirmed or newly registered.
“This total represents approximately 85 per cent of the total number of citizens who voted in the 2019 general election,” they said in the letter, adding that “in practical terms, if an election were held based on that number, even if every confirmed and newly registered voter turned out to vote, the total number of votes cast would amount to only about 85 per cent of the number who voted in 2019.”
The group said that considerable effort has been made to reform the electoral system and rebuild confidence in the electoral institutions and democracy.
“Given the present level of participation, we believe that allowing the additional three months provided for under the legislation would strengthen that effort and provide a fair opportunity for more eligible citizens to participate.”
The Chief Elections Officer said that voter confirmation is likely to be “busy” on Wednesday’s final day, noting that “as of Monday evening”, there were 34,375 combined registrations and confirmations.
She said confirmation numbers were 30,997 and registration 3,378, adding, “we expect an increase today at the end of today”.
She said that when the confirmation exercise started, “there was a bit of rush …but that slowed down for a while, for several months and towards the end we are seeing a lot of persons now gravitating and rushing to get confirmed and we are still encouraging persons who have not yet been confirmed voters who are eligible for confirmation.
“We are still encouraging those persons to get to your confirmation centre before 5.30 p.m. and to get confirmed. You still have the rest of today to get confirmed,” she said, adding, “if you did not get the opportunity to get confirmed, you still have an opportunity to get onto the voters list by registering.”
“So, if you have not been confirmed after the 14th of October, you can still get onto the list by getting re-registered. So, people have the opportunity. If you did not get the opportunity to get confirmed, then you can re-register at the same confirmation centre,” she added.
CMC/cj/ir/026
