The Tribune

By PAVEL BAILEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A JUDGE dismissed an application for an injunction to halt the May 12 general election after Bahamas Constitutional Party leader S Ali McIntosh raising concerns about the integrity of the voters’ register.

Justice Leif Farquharson denied Ms McIntosh’s application to stop next week’s general election yesterday afternoon.

In a press interview afterward, Ms McIntosh said she would wait to see Justice Farquharson’s reasons for denying the application after he releases his written ruling.

Although she believed her case was strong, Ms McIntosh said she sought the injunction out of concern for the integrity of the voters’ register.

Over the last several months, numerous cases involving foreign nationals accused of fraudulently possessing voter cards went before the Magistrate’s Court.

Parliamentary Commissioner Harrison Thompson has repeatedly defended the integrity of the voters’ register in comments to the media.

Ms McIntosh said she and her party will read the reasons for the court’s decision before deciding their next steps. She also indicated that, after the election, she would petition the incoming government on the matter, although her party has not nominated any candidates this election cycle.

“We are going to continue to call for a commission of inquiry, a royal commission of inquiry,” she said. “So this will go further. We already have appointments to speak with the national observers, both CARICOM and OAS.”

“We are very much involved in this election, protesting and not nominating because we believe the defectiveness of the register and the gross corruption of it is why we took the steps we took.”

She also referred to issues at police headquarters and the Parliamentary Registration Department in recent days concerning ballot boxes, calling the situation “chaos”. She said officials need to “press the reset button” and that the case will continue.