Bermuda’s democracy is in danger believes the Voters’ Rights Association. Here co-chairman Geoff Parker tell Matthew Taylor why.

The Voters Rights Association has only been going for a year - but already has made some incendiary allegations.

It claimed civil servants are being bullied and fired at a whim in a Government rampant with cronyism and that the election result was seriously flawed with ghost voters casting ballots in seats where they had no right to be.

But as co-chairman Geoff Parker points out – the Voters Rights Association (VRA) isn't there to make friends but to fight for justice.

And for him the key point is power should be in the hands of the people, not political elites.

Which makes it a shame that the Bermuda Constitution works for the parties and not the public, said Mr. Parker who formed the VRA, along with former independent MP Stuart Hayward.

He said the idea came to him years ago when he was chairman of the National Liberal Party (NLP).

"I thought there was a need to protect the voters' interest, because the constitution is basically written for the top two parties," he said.

The constitution caters for individual rights. "But there are no political rights under the constitution so people basically have no say, except the one day every four or five years when we get to elect some new people."

And in the 40 years since the constitution was written, public input had been eroded to the point there were no longer the parish-by-parish debates between candidates which allowed voters to decide their merits.

"The public have limited information about the candidates and virtually no understanding of where the future Government is going to lead us."

He said most MPs, with some honourable exceptions, only made their presence known to their voters a couple of weeks before the election. "They go away and do whatever their party tells them." The system, which had encouraged polarisation, was no longer working for the community, argued Mr. Parker.

Some might counter that the public prefer the politicians to get on with it rather than get involved themselves, but Mr. Parker believes MPs are now more interested in working on their own agendas.

With little change in voting patterns between 2003 and 2007 it could be argued that the public had endorsed the current set-up but the VRA believe there was "orchestration and manipulation" of voters.

An extensive report on suspected voting abuses as been sent to the UK's Foreign Affairs Committee which is reviewing the overseas territories.

"There are people voting in constituencies who don't live there, which is contrary to the law."

He said the Parliamentary Registrar would only change or delete a name if the two parties agreed, which was not likely to be very often.

"We estimate there was a least a ten percent error across the board." Which works out to about 100 suspect votes per seat and when seats were changing hands on two dozen votes the effect could be significant said Mr. Parker.

"Ten percent is a big deal, it could have made it closer or even a tie. One or two percent in this little Island can make a difference in St. George's when the difference was under 30 votes." He said the system put the parties as adjudicators with the Parliamentary Registrar as referee.

"But we have to make it as accurate as possible otherwise we might as well forget about the election process." Which is why, argues Mr. Parker, the whole process needs to be run by an election commission of independent people. Fixed term elections every four years – another VRA policy – would give that commission adequate notice to get the job done properly.

"It will eliminate this last-minute rush where suddenly there is a huge number of people suddenly 'living' in a particular constituency that they were named to, but they were no longer living there shortly after."

The problem wasn't just caused by negligence, where people had moved out and didn't change details, but also something more sinister with people registered to areas they never had nothing to do with, believes Mr. Parker.

"I am told that was taking place specifically registered to Government housing that was created."

He said it went on in Southampton East Central and St. David's - two seats which the PLP took off the UBP.

Objections in the polling stations to suspect voters were immediately over-ruled by the presiding officers, he said.

"Why the UBP in particular hasn't made a big fuss about this I don't know. By accepting it happened and not doing anything about it means they are a part of the problem as well.

"What are they worried about - that they might lose a few more votes if people get upset?

"We are not worried about getting people upset. We are upset because the process of democracy is being eroded in this country and we have to make sure we get it as close to right as we can.

"That's why we were formed. We are not here to make a lot of friends with the people currently in power. We are here to make the rights of the people safe.

"We are not here to vilify any particular party. The VRA is to find solutions to problems that exist. I know in the old days when the UBP was in power there were probably similar situations taking place."

He said under the constitution voters are always at the mercy of the party in power.

"It doesn't matter who's there, the constitution is there for abuse.

"We need to put in some political rights to protect the public so they don't sit back in their houses in fear of what Government is going to be doing."

As a white businessman critical of the PLP he is bound to be cast in the role of UBP proxy. But those tempted to make that generalisation don't know much about Mr. Parker.

He was never a member of the UBP and had campaigned against the forming of party politics. "I could foresee the way it was going. I have been a thorn in the side of the UBP for many, many years." His petition against Government spending in the late 1980s and early 1990s, garnered 4,000 signatures and the enduring hostility of those in power.

"At that point in time I wasn't allowed to solicit signatures on the street in the City of Hamilton and St. George's.

"I may be a white guy but I definitely wasn't a friend of the UBP. And suddenly a lot of my Government work I was doing with my waterproofing company was terminated." The only party to help him was the NLP which led to him joining them although he felt the project was never very likely to succeed.

And he said the existing polarisation and fear of change combined with the political system was likely to crush anything new emerging now - even though a large chunk of the population was sick of the current set up.

"We know, we get calls and people are sitting worried and scared. I am saying we are supposed to be in a democracy?

"I think there is a climate of fear now - the strength of the Government, it's oratory, there have been some abuses of power." Not that he wants to clamp down on inflammatory rhetoric, which he says comes under freedom of speech.

"I don't think the PLP have done a bad job in running the Island. My concern is the information that comes back to us about what's going on within Government - the abuses. We know the BPSU has complained about abuses." Now the VRA has heard first-hand from civil servants who have outlined the depths of the problem.

"One of the greatest difficulties in Bermuda is trying to get anything to stick. There are so many isolated incidences of things which go by us because we are so busy and we really don't care. We just can't fit in all this extra bad news but some review has to take place periodically to determine where we are at."

Which is why the VRA thinks another pressure group might be needed to fight the cases of the little man.

The VRA believe the Ombudsman is a great idea but regret incumbent Arlene Brock is not empowered to deal with ministerial abuses. "If that's where the problem is then how do you get to it?

"Ultimately Mr. Parker would like Bermuda to re-think the way it does its politics as he noted other countries in the Caribbean region had taken on the same parliamentary system from Britain and ended up with the same polarisation.

"There has to be a better way, we are in the 21st century. We need to explore outside the box to find the systems that work."

But Mr. Parker realises sudden change won't be helpful. "You can't just suddenly go from one model to another. You have to accept what we've got, understand the problems and try to make it work better."

It involves giving the voter more power so Government is the servant of the people instead of the other way around.

Governing party domination of public boards doesn't make for better management said Mr. Parker, which is why the VRA want proportional representation in appointments.

Some believe a third party would have a better chance of smashing the two party grip if proportional representation was brought in for parliamentary voting, but the VRA has yet to pronounce.

For his part, Mr. Parker who would love to see a green party take off in Bermuda just as they have done in Europe and Canada.

But for now he is concentrating on building the VRA, which has 500 members although Mr. Parker admits the white-heavy demographics need to be widened.

'We have people on the black side who are very concerned and are bringing in members but they are finding it very difficult because of the climate - that joining the VRA means you are anti-Government, which is not the case at all.

"Joining the VRA is to protect your rights and create a better Bermuda, we are not specifically attacking Government."

Now the VRA want to develop a fund a group of volunteer lawyers to fight test cases in court.

"One should not sit at home and cringe because somebody is imposing on your rights, making you miserable and anti-whatever.

"You need an outlet to get help and that is the next phase of the VRA."

What the VRA believes

(from its website)

The VRA believes in a bottom-up grass roots decision-making process for Government instead of the current top-down system in place where a tiny group make decisions affecting the majority of people, who have little say.

To achieve this, the first step will be to draw up for discussion purposes a Voters' Bill of Rights which may include:

The right of constituents to recall a parliamentarian they elected.

The right to determine selected public issues through a voter referendum process.

The right to expect fixed general election dates.

The right to put forward only election candidates that live in that constituency.

The right to vote through a fair absentee ballot voting system.

The right to fair and democratic representation through a form of proportional representation, initially for the election of Senators and all Government boards and committees.