The Court of Appeal in Barbados has paved the way for people residing on the island for more than three years to be included in the list of voters as Barbadians get ready to elect a new government on May 24.
Attorney Gregory Nicholls said the Court of Appeal threw out long standing rules that barred Commonwealth citizens resident in the island for three years from voting. He said the Appellate Court ruled the Electoral and Boundaries Commission (EBC) EBC and Chief Electoral Officer unlawfully refused to register his clients on the electoral list.
“What the Court did was to examine the Representation of the People Act. Not only must one be qualified to register, one must actually fill out the Form 1 application form. Section 7 sets out the criteria for eligibility, which is you’re either a citizen of Barbados or a Commonwealth citizen who has been residing in Barbados for three years.
Previously, the EBC had stated it was its long-held policy that the agency was not authorized to register anyone as an elector in Barbados, unless that person was a citizen or person having the immigration status of resident or immigrant in Barbados.
St Lucian-born academic Professor Eddy Ventose, Grenadian Shireene Ann Mathlin-Tulloch, Jamaican Michelle Melissa Russell, and Montserratian Sharon Juliet Edgecombe-Miller had sought to get their names included on the electoral list in time for the next general election.
But they said they had been told by the EBC that they were not eligible to be on the list, as they did not enjoy permanent residency, immigrant status or citizenship of Barbados.
In his ruling, the Chief Justice said that any decision to exclude them would be in violation of the Act, which does not make it mandatory for the applicants to be permanent residents, immigrants or citizens of Barbados in order to vote.
