Anthony Stuart Urges Dominicans to push for electoral reform

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Former government senator in Antigua and Barbuda, Anthony Stuart, has called on all Dominican citizens to be in full support of comprehensive electoral reform for free and fair elections.

He spoke at the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) rally at the Arch in Roseau on Sunday, June 30th , 2019.

“The electoral process must be reformed and be reformed continuously because many elections are won and lost long before election day when the electoral processes are very loose and weak and not reformed and updated for a very long time,” Stuart said.

“I know some of you love the political party you support but I know all of you love your country of Dominica so I wish to say to you that you must love your country more than any political party. I wish to say to you that you must put your country above any political party, so if you are going to put your country before political party, then every citizen and resident of Dominica should be in support of comprehensive electoral reform,” Stuart advised. 

He said that in Antigua and Barbuda, electoral laws have been improved by issuing voter ID cards along with other laws.

“The improved law brought in pictured voter register. Our register used on election day doesn’t only have the name and the address and occupation of the elector. On that register, the picture of the elector is also there so when I come into that booth… I pass my ID over they look at the ID, they look at me in the flesh and they pass it to the other agents to confirm this is Anthony Stewart and they know that is a legal legitimate vote. So, no dead person can vote in our election now; no person who’s in the US and then come back for election can vote,” he explained.

Stuart said the improved law requires commonwealth citizens to reside in the country continuously for 7 years to qualify for the right to vote while all non-commonwealth citizens must become citizens of Antigua and Barbuda to qualify for the right to vote. The law also requires total re-registration of all eligible electors every 10 years, he pointed out.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. Anthony Stuart??? He tilla go?

    His last act of patriotism was NOT supporting the selling of his country’s passports.

    I listened to his plans for Grays-Green leading up to the last general elections and they were very sound.

    But I guess the people rejected him as Baldwin Spencer protegee

  2. Stuart the DA government would be crazy to redo its list mere months before the general election. However they should look at doing it right after. Fact is the requirement of only a voter id to vote can cause the mess we had in 2009, where polls opened late because resources were being wasted in reprinting voter id’s (any government issues picture id should work). There is this talk about lists being corrupted but I note in larger countries there is not that push as we have in these small islands for keeping what we claim are clean lists. In the US, they do not even require a government issued ID for persons to vote (signature is sufficient)and have argued doing such will disenfranchise especially poor and minority voters. Fact is if a dead person voted then the issue is not really election related, since we have now had a Jesus moment. The opposition in DA wants (most)voters who reside overseas off the list, that’s the real intention here. Their push is simply badly timed.

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