#BTEditorial – Ten days to no vote for too many

The team at Barbados TODAY thought it necessary to remind Barbadians just how few days and hours are left before election day in this country.  The landing page of our website provides the electorate with a countdown to the last seconds to decision day.

January 19 is likely to be remembered as a seminal day in 2022. But for hundreds and possibly thousands, this weekend will be critical. That is because anyone who is diagnosed with COVID-19 from this weekend will be unable to exercise their right to vote in the general election.

According to the protocols for persons diagnosed with COVID-19, a mandatory isolation period of not less than 10 days is required whether they are symptomless or are manifesting  evidence of the disease.

Top officials of the Ministry of Health and Wellness have already put the country on notice that we should not be surprised by an explosion in Omicron-linked COVID-19 cases on the island over the next six to seven weeks.

The number of possible cases in a worst-case scenario is a mind-blowing 3, 500 daily. And even if infection numbers are half what is forecast in the models, it could mean that well over 15 000 people could be in isolation, either at home or in one of the state-operated facilities.

That is a staggering scenario to even contemplate.

A firestorm has erupted since head of the COVID-19 Monitoring Unit Mr Ronald Chapman declared that persons isolating due to their positive diagnosis will be deprived of their right to take part in the snap election which was announced by Prime Minister Mottley.

Since his declaration, legal opinions have abounded. They have ranged from suggestions that the right to vote is not enshrined in the Constitution, to the position that given the public health emergency, there was cause and provision to delay the national vote.

An interesting perspective from Senior counsel Garth Patterson, who has practised constitutional law for over 35 years contends that the country’s electoral laws, may be “vulnerable” to constitutional challenge in the present circumstances.

Patterson argued that the Caribbean Court of Justice as our final appellate court held that every person or institution in Barbados functions under the Barbados Constitution and is duty-bound to act rationally, reasonably and fairly.

He told this newspaper: “The Government’s decision to dissolve Parliament and to hold elections during a pandemic may be amenable to judicial review, provided that the voter can establish that, by doing so, the Government breached its constitutional duty of rational and reasonable decision-making and/or contravened the substance or policy of any applicable law or constitutional provision.”

In these circumstances, and the possibility that several thousand eligible voters could be constrained from voting because of a fast-spreading disease that we knew was coming even before the election announced, begs an important question.

Is there room for the election to be postponed and should it be?

While we ponder, opposition candidate Bishop Joseph Atherley has seemingly given up on mounting a legal challenge to the poll as there seems to be no appetite for such action from the other political parties contesting the poll.

With ten more days before election day, a 10-page document which should be widely circulated but for some reason is not, outlines the COVID-19 protocols for the January 19 election.

It bans “motorcades and whistle-stop convoy type tours” though the smaller spot meetings will be allowed. If political parties are seeking to stage indoor events, they are required to keep a log of every participant and their contact number.

Physical distancing as well as properly worn masks are to be enforced by all staff while temperature checks are to be done on all speakers at political meetings.

While these guidelines are laudable, they certainly do not address the pressing issue of how the country will justify the disenfranchisement of so many citizens through no fault of their own.

In a commentary by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, it was stated: “Regardless of whether countries are holding or delaying elections, the decisions are having a major impact on the political fortunes of incumbents and challengers, as well as on voter participation.

“To ensure the credibility of electoral processes while maintaining public health, some governments are testing or expanding new systems—such as proxy voting and mail balloting—while political parties and civil society organizations are conceiving new ways to engage voters.

“However, despite these efforts, low voter turnout, unequal campaign conditions, and limited domestic or international observation threaten to cast a shadow on the legitimacy of elections.”