ALP Cries Foul Over Boundary Changes

Details

Politics

Tuesday, 05 June 2012 02:30

By Everton Barnes

Antigua St John's - Proposed radical changes to the existing electoral boundaries in Antigua and Barbuda to be recommended by the Boundaries Commission have the opposition Antigua Labour Party seeing ‘red’.

The ALP member on the Commission, James ‘Jimmy’ Fuller, said on local radio that the proposed changes being contemplated amount to nothing short of gerrymandering.

He said the changes are being done with a view to weaken the ALP and to make it easier for the ruling United Progressive Party to return to office.

According to Fuller, among the changes is a move to fuse the constituencies of St Peter and St Phillip North into one, with a similar action in the south involving the St Mary’s North and St Mary’s South. He noted, however, that the number of constituencies will remain at its current 17.

Fuller hinted that the party is considering legal action to prevent the government from going through with the wholesale changes.

This has been confirmed by ALP Chairman Gaston Browne, who said that while there may be need for some equality in the numbers of people comprising a constituency, the ALP will not support radical changes that would put it at a disadvantage.

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“While the proposals are preliminary recommendations, we have learnt from our member on the Commission, Comrade Fuller, that the changes being planned are tantamount to gerrymandering. We plan to resist this vigorously, including taking legal and other protest actions to stop the government in its tracks,”he stated.

Browne said the UPP is seeking to attain an unfair advantage ahead of the 2014 poll, but the ALP will not sit idly by and allow that to happen.

He said there is precedent for legal action against proposed radical changes to electoral boundaries as evidenced by what happened in both St Kitts-Nevis and Dominica.

“In both Dominica and St Kitts-Nevis, the governments attempted to change the electoral boundaries in an attempt to gain an advantage; but when the opposition parties took the matter to the court, the rulings were made in their favour. So there is precedent for our proposed action,” he explained.

Chairman of the Commission, Clarence Crump, could not be reached for a response.
Under the Constitution, a Boundaries Commission is to be set up and submit a report prior to each General Elections.

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