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VRA rejects election results

Stuart Hayward

The Voters' Rights Association has written to the UK's Foreign Affairs Committee, questioning the results of the General Election.

The organisation sent the "strongly worded" report to the House of Commons committee on January 31, raising 22 "areas of concern".

The document is described as "a very comprehensive report on the state of Bermuda's governance".

The VRA disclosed the action in an e-mailed letter to members this week, calling on them to attend a meeting on Tuesday.

The email states: "the VRA does not accept the results from the recent General Election".

The organisation accuses the Parliamentary Registrar's Office of inaccuracies in voter registration and calls for an independent Election Commission and the reform of the Parliamentary Election Act.

But last night Parliamentary Registrar Randy Scott said: "I don't think they will get very far."

Mr. Scott added: "I am quite irritated by it all. I had a meeting with Mr. (Geoff) Parker and Mr. (Stuart) Hayward (VRA co-chairmen) prior to the election on this matter.

"We went through all the processes of registration and they walked out of there quite happy. We went out of our way to inform the voters about registration requirements, and the results of the election were certified.

"They were returned to the Deputy (Acting) Governor by Returning Officers. I don't know where Mr. Parker and Mr. Hayward are going with this.

"They have their right to freedom of speech but they can't overturn the result, I think any attempt to do that will get thrown out."

Yesterday however, Mr. Parker said: "The 22 issues all involve political and human rights. We are intending to introduce a Voters' Bill of Rights."

Admitting there was "a contest of wills" with the Parliamentary Registrar, Mr. Parker accused his Office of having "an eight to ten percent error".

"We really find there's too much of a degree of an inaccuracy to have a fair election, even though he (Mr. Scott) denies it," he said. "The Parliamentary system that exists for the registration process needs reform, it just doesn't do the job.

"And if you have inaccurate registration, you're going to get inaccurate results.

"The system doesn't work, so let's fix it before the next election."

Mr. Parker said VRA membership now tops 400 but he hoped "to double that" before the FAC arrives in March.

His e-mail states: "Our submission to London was strongly worded and substantive.

"As the VRA does not accept the results from the recent General Election, due to the inaccurate registration process and padding of certain districts, we have called for a full review and reform of the Parliamentary Election Act and the establishment of a constitutionalised independent Election Commission to ensure a level playing field in future.

"We also called for an audit of all constituencies in this last election where winners won by ten percent or less, so that the illegal voters (voters that voted in one district but lived in another) can be removed from the list and a new by-election held with the proper registered voters only. Our figures indicated an inaccuracy of from seven percent to ten percent."

It continues: "By November we need 51 percent or 21,000 of the registered voters of this Island to demand enactment of the Voters' Bill of Rights.

"It's time to stand up and say 'Enough is enough!' and get on board to help create a new direction for this country."

The FAC is visiting Bermuda as part of an audit of Britain's 14 Overseas Territories.

It will look at standards of good governance, transparency and accountability, the role of the Governor and regulation of the financial sector.

The VRA meeting takes place at Christ Church Warwick, Thorburn Hall, at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday. Members will be presented with a summary of the FAC submission.