The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS


Tribune Staff Reporter


lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip Davis accused the Free National Movement of preparing excuses for defeat after the party raised new complaints about the voters register, calling the allegations “nothing but hot air”.

His response followed claims by FNM chairman Dr Duane Sands that the party found serious problems in the revised register, including empty polling divisions, duplicate entries and deceased people still listed.

Mr Davis dismissed concern that the FNM’s frequent complaints could undermine confidence in Bahamian elections.

“I think this is nothing but hot air, nothing more than grandstanding, nothing more than fostering and perhaps making excuses now for the loss that they’re expecting,” he said.

He said safeguarding the register is a shared democratic responsibility, not solely the job of election officials.

“Very often, all the burden is put on parliamentary office,” he said. “It is for all of us who are participatory members of this democracy to keep an eye on the registry, to help it, to ensure its integrity.”

He emphasised that irregularities, if found, should first be reported to authorities rather than immediately publicised.

“Instead of going to the press, what I recommend he does is, wherever he finds there’s some irregularity, draw it to his attention and make sure that they correct it and if it’s not corrected, then that’s when he may want to make noise,” Mr Davis said. “But to discover an irregularity, if there were one, and to just go straight to the public with it, it’s an unnecessary irritant to the process.”

He said the registration system remains largely manual and therefore prone to human error.

“What is required is for us as responsible citizens, and we do see, don’t forget, the process at the moment, is still very much manual,” he said. “People are dealing with it, and as we are humans and we are prone to make mistakes, it doesn’t mean that the mistakes are deliberate or intentional, and when we find them, we bring it to the attention for it to be corrected.”

Nonetheless, Dr Sands has said the FNM formally wrote the Parliamentary Registration Department after reviewing the updated list.

“In its review, the FNM found polling divisions with no voters assigned, including Killarney Polling Division 3, Southern Shores Polling Division 4, and Tall Pines Polling Division 4. It is not normal for polling divisions to be skipped in this manner,” he said.

He also cited missing voters, flawed transfers after boundary changes and inconsistent application of registration rules, and called for a full audit and reconciliation of the register.

The complaints add to earlier FNM allegations that young voters were discouraged from registering and that campaigning occurred inside a registration office. Parliamentary Commissioner Harrison Thompson previously rejected those accusations and said concerns brought to administrators were addressed.