| |
Contact:
John Emmanuel
Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - The Electoral Commission has been
underscoring the impartial role that hundreds of scrutineers in the upcoming
island-wide house to house enumeration exercise schedule to begin next month.
Electoral Commission officials say the 280 scrutineers will be used exclusively
to oversee the gathering of data, and will in no way participate in the
registration of new persons. According to Commission member Mr. Stephen Julian,
“In some jurisdictions, the role of scrutineers was not merely to observe but
essentially to serve as key functionaries in the compilation of new electoral
registers, during a national registration exercise conducted in the penultimate
year of each general election.”
Julian says such a situation existed in some countries which included Jamaica,
Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda etc. prior to their recent adoption of a
continuous registration system like that of Saint Lucia. Mr. Julian, who’s
appointment to the Commission came on the recommendation of Opposition Leader
Hon. Marcus Nicholas, told reporters at Monday’s launch of the house to house
enumeration exercise, “The Electoral Commission’s concept for the inclusion of
scrutineers in this exercise is different, as it is pursued in the interest of
transparency in an effort to dispel any perception of impropriety in the
gathering of data by the enumerators, during the outdoor process.”
The selection of scrutineers is the responsibility of the Prime Minister and the
Leader of the Opposition in accordance with the expressed guidance of the
Constitution and the House of Assembly Elections Act.
In many jurisdictions, Saint Lucia included, the electoral register loses about
25 to 30 percent of its accuracy after five years, even when the system of
registration is continuous and an annual revision is adopted. The Commission
says the challenge lies in addressing the situation of death, name changes,
changes in addresses and migration to other countries.
|
