Atherley: Measures needed to allow people with COVID to cast ballots

Leader of the Alliance Party for Progress (APP) Bishop Joseph Atherley is calling on opposition parties to come together to take legal action to either force authorities to make provisions for COVID-19 patients to vote, or delay the January 19 polls.

He said if neither action is not taken, thousands of eligible voters will be “robbed” of their franchise.

Atherley’s call on Wednesday follows pronouncements by the Electoral and Boundaries Commission (EBC) that COVID-19-positive residents who are qualified to vote but are in isolation, are prohibited from leaving their homes to cast their ballots.

The APP leader’s first suggestion is that a motion be brought against the Government to force authorities to allow people with COVID-19 to vote. Alternately, he said, court action could be taken to change the day of elections.

While out canvassing with his party’s candidate for The City, Marva Lashley-Todd, Atherley expressed concern at the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Barbados. The island recorded 538 new cases on Monday – more than double the 200 the day before – and another 479 from testing on Tuesday, and authorities are projecting the numbers to continue to rise.

Atherley said if the trend continues up to Election Day, “multiple thousands of people would be robbed of their right to vote”.

“I had a meeting with the Electoral and Boundaries Commission about four or five days ago and I said then – these [COVID-19 positive] people are not at fault. If you are in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital lying on your back . . . you can’t come out to vote and that is fine, we understand that. That is a matter where you don’t have the physical mobility and medical capacity to come out and do it, but these people can vote all for the exception that the Government says they must stay at home,” he argued.

“I am no lawyer but I believe that is something that can be challenged. The Representation of the People Act says that everything must be put in place that people who are qualified to vote must be able to vote. The Constitution of Barbados says that any electoral law – and the Representation of the People Act is an electoral law – must be of such substance that every practical effort is made to facilitate people in the exercise of their right to vote, and what we have is a situation here where the Government has chosen to take a course of action which will deny them their right to vote. That is a serious threat, and Barbadians need to stand up and take stock of that,” contended Atherley.

“I am further calling on the opposition parties in Barbados to join me in mounting a protest to that, whether we take legal action and ask for some kind of judicial review. My understanding as well, is that the Constitution of Barbados suggests very clearly that in the event of an emergency, an election date can be changed, and the Government should be giving serious consideration to changing this election date,” he said.

Arguing that the country was clearly in the middle of a state of emergency in a COVID-19 pandemic brought on by a spike in cases, the former Opposition Leader said it was “a very serious matter” that some people would be unable to vote.

“This government continues to abuse its power. The Prime Minister is now calling for a one-party state in Barbados from what I heard of her, and this is a serious thing,” he said.

Stressing that the ultimate power rests with the electorate, Atherley added: “If this election goes on January 19, I am calling all of those who are in a position to do so legally to come out and vote against this government. This is a very serious thing.”

In a Zoom meeting on Sunday, EBC Chairman Leslie Haynes, Q.C said he was satisfied that the law supported the decision that “people in isolation cannot leave home, so they can’t vote”.

However, he said people who turn up to vote on January 19 and show signs of illness “will have provisions in place for them”.

Health officials have gone on record promising that provisions will be in place to ensure a safe voting process.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb