KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – The ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) has defended Barbadian pollster Peter Wickham, after United States officials claimed he told them that the party used money and other hand outs to sway voters in the December 2005 elections.
“I want to state categorically, up front, that I have not lost confidence in Peter Wickham neither has this party,” said ULP general secretary and campaign manager Julian Francis.
“We believe that Peter is being misrepresented in these matters,” Francis added.
According to a diplomatic cable released by the internet site WikiLeaks, Wickham told U.S. officials in Barbados in 2006 that he believed a sudden injection of US$350,000 in the last two weeks of the December 2005 election campaign allowed the ULP to sway voters by helping people pay overdue bills, fix leaking roofs and buy groceries.
The ULP won 12 of the 15 seats in the elections. The main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP), had complained of voter irregularities, especially in three constituencies, where it lost by slim margins.
The leaked document further indicated that Wickham was of the view that the ULP had brought in 400 people to St. Vincent from the U.S. for the election.
Wickham has already denied the allegations in the leaked US documents adding also that he had never ever met with the then U.S. Ambassador Mary Kramer.
“I can state categorically, that I have never met privately with former US Ambassador Mary Kramer, who is alleged to be the author of this cable,” Wickham said in a statement.
“Peter Wickham is a professional in the Caribbean. He is a pollster and we have been using Peter Wickham since 1998 and we have every confidence in Peter Wickham and we will continue to support Peter Wickham and will continue to employ Peter Wickham,” Francis said .
He said that the polls that Wickham and his firm Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES) have done for the ULP “have always guided us in the right direction.
“Had it not been for Peter Wickham and had we not followed Peter Wickham in quite a few areas of his advice, we may not have been in government today,” Francis said of the ULP, which came to office in 2001 and also won the 2005 an 2010 polls.
Francis said some of the contents of the cable “are so negative and dirty”, adding,” it is the usual listening by these American people to the opposition.
“I make no bones in saying that I do not think that the Unity Labour Party is a favourite party to the U.S. administration right now. I do not think so. And, when they listen to some of these things that the opposition say, they try to put these things out to public and use other means and other individuals to try and cover documents that they have released,” Francis said.
He noted that Wickham’s efforts to seek clarification from the U.S. Embassy in Bridgetown was met with the response that they cannot discuss the contents of these documents since there is no certainty that the documents are authentic.
Francis said that the reference to using money to sway voters was “utter rubbish.
“This is utter rubbish …the figure is utter rubbish and…this matter of the Unity Labour Party swaying people at the last minute by helping to pay overdue bills. It sounds like an opposition statement that the U.S. people believe and they are just carrying it on,” he said.
He said that statement that his party flew in people to vote in the elections was also “NDP propaganda”.
“Let me state categorically that we did not pay to bring in anybody from overseas. I have documents in my office that show me that the opposition are the ones who brought in people,” he said, adding that the government flew in students from Trinidad and Barbados.
