• SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS SAYS ‘EVERYTHING IN PLACE’

Supervisor of Elections Rodney Adams is satisfied that his office is ready for the December 7 poll. “Everything is place,” he said.

Adams stated that the polling stations will be prepared the day before the polls, but staff and other personnel have already gone through the paces.{{more}}

Expressing confidence that the necessary machinery is in place, he added, “only a storm, or natural disaster,” could hamper the event.

And if anything does go wrong with the St. Vincent and the Grenadines general elections, there will be observers with some international prestige on the ground to report on what is happening, Adams explained.

An Organisation of American States, OAS, Mission is expected here Sunday, December 4, in time for the poll.

OAS Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin, accompanied by two staff members will comprise the delegation.

The OAS Mission is the result of an agreement between the OAS Secretariat and the Ministry of National Security here.

While here, the team will collaborate with the Electoral Office. Supervisor of Elections Rodney Adams outlined some terms of the agreement under which the observers will operate.

“The Mission will act impartially, objectively, independently in the fulfillment of its mandate,” Adams outlined. The OAS team is responding to an invitation by Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves.

The Vincentian government is expected to provide the OAS Mission with all the resources necessary for them to perform their duties.

The OAS Mission will ensure that the elections are “impartial and transparent.”

The Vincentian election, the seventh since this nation attained Independence on October 27, 1979, will also have the presence of a CARICOM observer team.

That Caribbean based institution has been in contact with Supervisor Adams.

There will not be any representation from the Commonwealth Secretariat however. Donald McKinnon, Commonwealth Secretary-General responded to Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves on October 17, 2005. He expressed confidence that the elections will be observed and monitored through the existing mechanisms and the presence of observers from CARICOM and the Organization of American States.

Additionally, the National Monitoring and Consultative Mechanism has established itself as a credible institution.

Meanwhile some 91,023 persons are eligible to vote in the December 7 poll. The number is 6,487 more than the figure listed for the 2001 election when there were 84,536 voters registered.

There will be 225 Polling Divisions; the figure stood at 202 in 2001.