BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CMC) – A group of non-governmental organisations (NGO) Tuesday said it would hold the Electoral Commission “legally responsible” should the Supervisor of Elections Wingrove George fail to disclose the winner of Monday’s general election in St Kitts-Nevis.
In a letter sent to both George and the Chairman of the Commission, Hesketh Benjamin, the NGO coalition said failure to announce the results “could have very negative implications for the rule of law and the reputation of our country.
“The Commission will be held legally responsible for any failure in this regard,” the group, including the St Kitts-Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the St Kitts Christian Council and the St Kitts-Nevis Bar Association said.
The elections had been contested between the St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) and Team Unity, an amalgam of three opposition parties. They were seeking control of the 15-member National Assembly.
The opposition party says it has won at least seven of the seats in the elections giving it control of the parliament.
In the letter, the NGO coalition said that George had “blatantly and without the slightest attempt at an explanation, abdicated your responsibility to keep the people informed of the results of the count of ballots in the eleven constituencies.
“Your excessive and unsettling delays over the curse of last night in announcing the results and the subsequent announcement by the Opposition Team Unity of the results of the election in the constituencies in which the count was concluded lead us to no other conclusion that your disgraceful conduct was intended to subvert the will of the people as expressed in the general election.”
The group urged George to complete his “constitutional duties immediately by announcing the election results…”