Supervisor of Elections, Elvis Morain, defended the integrity of the electoral process in Grenada amid concerns by the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the June 23 general election may not be free and fair.
“Whatever perception there is, we have to find a way to educate and continue to talk to the public, giving them the assurance and giving them all the necessary steps and guidance as to how we go forward in ensuring that the process is as seamless as possible and within the rules of the act by which we are governed,” Morain told a news conference.
“We are committed to this and we will work steadfastly to ensure that at the end of the day the process is what it ought to be.”
The NDC, which is seeking to unseat the ruling New National Party (NNP) in the polls, in an open letter to Morain, had expressed its “on-going concerns with the management of the electoral process in Grenada, particularly the functioning of sub-offices in some Constituencies.
The party, which lost the last two general elections by a 15- nil margin, warned that “if these concerns are not immediately addressed, it will not be possible to hold free and fair elections in the future, because the electoral process will be compromised.
The NDC has also called for has called for a fixed election date in Grenada as it criticized the decision by the authorities to provide a 24 –hour window for the registration of voters ahead of the election date that was announced by Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell over the last weekend.
Morain told reporters that the Parliamentary Elections Office (PEO) is governed by an act “that has all of the rules and so on governing as to how we should do this and so far, we are doing what we supposed to do”.
He said that he was pleased with the registration of voters on Monday and that the election writs which had been issued on Tuesday, will be published in the 15 constituencies on Wednesday.
In the 2018 general elections, a total of 57,621 cast ballots even though 78,294 had been registered.
The Supervisor of Elections confirmed that discussions are taking place with the Ministry of Education since some schools will be used as polling stations and students will also be required to sit external exams on the day of the elections.
CMC/
