Church to advise government on election June 16, 2014 Kadeem Joseph Feature 7 comments People assemble in line to vote in St Johns City West during last Thursdays General Election. (OBSERVER media/Laura Hall) People assemble in line to vote in St Johns City West during last Thursdays General Election. (OBSERVER media/Laura Hall) ST JOHN’S, Antigua – The Antigua Christian Council (ACC) is seeking to further establish the church’s role in the governance of the country. President of the Christian Council, Major Byron Maxam, said the organisation would shortly seek an audience with the new government to discuss its recommendations aimed at improving the country’s electoral system. Major Maxam told OBSERVER media that one of the body’s suggestions is a fixed election date. “When I say fixed date, June 12 election was held and the next five years would be June 12, 2019,” he said. Major Maxam said the council is also proposing a review to recent amendments to the Representation of the People’s Act. “I am speaking in terms of the Commonwealth citizens and those of Caricom citizens also, a law was passed recently for from three you must reside seven years before you can vote. We want some amendment to that where we would return to the original which was three years,” the president said. The cleric said the standard for Commonwealth countries is to allow immigrants the chance to vote in just one year of residency. He said while three years can still be considered a long period, seven years is not acceptable. According to Major Maxam, the new Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) regime must also move to reorganise the Electoral Commission so it becomes a truly independent body. “As I have said before, we will still remain with the seven members but one from each of the political parties; one from the church; one from the legal fraternity; one from the Chamber of Commerce and one from civil society,” he said. “Among themselves, they will choose the chair and vice-chair of the commission. “All of these must be tackled within the 12 to 24 months in office to avoid being accused of electioneering or election campaigning,” he advised. Meantime, the president of the Christian Council is congratulating Prime Minister Gaston Browne on his appointment. He said the council expects the new ABLP government to be fair, transparent, all-inclusive and to share information on prospective projects. The Christian Council is the umbrella body embracing five established churches
Posted on: Mon, 16 Jun 2014 22:16:57 +0000
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