St Lucian professor Eddy Ventose and three other Commonwealth citizens who had sued the Electoral and Boundaries Commission (EBC) for refusing to include their names on the electoral list, have finally registered to vote in the May 24 general election in Barbados.
Chief Electoral Officer Angela Taylor was ordered by the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on Sunday to ensure that Ventose, the principal applicant in the class action suit, was registered before noon the following or risk imprisonment and/or fines.
“All of the litigants in the matter have been registered and have received confirmation that they are on the voters’ list,” attorney Gregory Nicholls, who is part of the legal team representing the litigants, said Monday this afternoon.
Nicholls said since the lawsuit was filed, a number of Commonwealth citizens had contacted the legal team advising that they had registered but their names did not appear on the voters’ list, adding that he was not certain about their fate.
“It doesn’t appear as though the other Commonwealth citizens who would have registered during the special registration period have been put on the list. So that I am not certain what would be the issue or how the issue would be resolved, because once the list is published, they are not going to be able to vote. The electoral department would therefore have to explain why people who have applied during the special registration period and who otherwise qualified were not put on the list,” he added.
The attorney said this case had no implications for Barbadians and other Commonwealth citizens living in other Commonwealth countries since “Barbadians all over the world who are in other Commonwealth countries vote ordinarily without any hiccup at all”.
“It seem that the electoral department was being advised by people who are ignorant as to the basis for which the Commonwealth as a grouping of nations gave that right to each others’ citizens who are resident for a qualifying period of time in another country of the Commonwealth,” Nicholls pointed out.
The legal counsel said it was as a result of that ignorance that the EBC had taken the law into its own hands and decided not to register citizens from other Commonwealth countries.
In handing down its judgment, the CCJ declared in the ruling read by President Sir Dennis Byron, that it was satisfied the legal and regulatory conditions for Ventose’s registration had been met.
Ventose had stated that he was qualified and entitled to be registered to vote, but his registration was consistently refused.
