WORD WAS that Government would be introducing sweeping changes to election laws when Parliament returns this week from yet another summer recess.
Alas, despite all of the hype and public agonising by the two most senior Government officials over the distressing allegations of vote-buying in the February 2013 general election, it is clearly not yet time for those anticipated tough measures.
Instead, what MPs will be asked to consider when the new election measure is likely debated on Tuesday, is a stringent set of new identification proscriptions to make it very difficult for people who are not entitled to vote to do so.
It will include for the first time the gender of an elector and a requirement for the production of an ID card issued under the National Registration Act 2015 instead of the 1979 Statistics (Registration Census of Barbadian Residents) Regulations.
In addition, the draft Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill will remove the power of the bipartite Electoral and Boundaries Commission (EBC), which conducts elections, to make regulations.
The bill to amend the existing legislation, which took effect from June 1, 1971, and was amended in 1978 and 1989, proposes to make better provision for the duties and functions performed by election officials; for the preparation and maintenance of the register of electors; and repeal Section 25 which calls for the use of ID cards containing matters issued in accordance with those regulations.
One of the chief changes in the ID requirements is that the National Register must contain the full name of the elector; national registration number; gender; address; constituency and polling district in which the elector resides.
New powers of entry into premises will be granted to the designated Chief Registering Officer as well as increased responsibilities imposed upon occupiers of a house.
There was anticipation in some quarters that any move by Government at this time on the electoral laws would have been a robust response to the widespread charges of vote-buying in the 2013 poll.
In the aftermath, both Prime Minister Freundel Stuart and Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite expressed concern about “some” people selling their votes and vowed to stamp it out with Stuart describing it as an “ugly practice which digs at the roots of democratic structures”.
Earlier this year, in apparent frustration that the promised full investigation and punishment of the alleged perpetrators had not been carried out, two prominent businessmen went public with their concerns and started a campaign to address the problem.
Former president of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), Andy Armstrong, and supermarket owner, Andrew Bynoe, sought to heighten awareness about the issue, noting that it remained a concern for many people, a lot of whom were afraid to speak out.
“It is surprising that it hasn’t yet been addressed at the level that it can make a difference,” Bynoe told one newspaper, “that level being within Parliament.
“Certainly, also within the parties themselves, because this has to come up on the agenda in particular having another election [constitutionally due] within about another two-and-a-half years.
“We must not, and cannot, go into an election again in this country where significant sums of money are peddled on the streets for votes. It is destroying the substance of democracy and it is a very bad precedent that needs to be stopped.”
Though concerned about the lack of action, Armstrong acknowledged: “The [challenge], I think, is that it is very difficult to prosecute and convict someone under (the existing) law. We have been told that the authorities haven’t even tried to prosecute anyone because they are aware of how difficult it would be to get a conviction.
“Some of the politicians need be aware that not only could they go to jail for it but they could also lose their seat in Parliament (if they won one).”
But it now seems that you, dear reader, Bynoe, Armstrong and all of the other voters who had been hoping for the change, including, of course, Stuart and Brathwaite, will have a wait a while longer.
It means that we could well go into another general election, and some opponents believe there could be an opportunistic poll in 2016 to take advantage of a “bounce” in the year of the 50th anniversary of Independence, without the anti-vote buying laws.
Pity.
Barbados, to my knowledge, has not has a serious problem with people who were not entitled to vote doing so.
The practice of vote-buying can still continue log after the passage of this legislation.
Albert Brandford is an independent political correspondent. Email: albertbrandford@nationnews.com