FNM tight-lipped on quarantined voters issue; PLP supports quarantined people who test negative being allowed to vote
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — There is still no official determination on whether eligible voters who have been quarantined will be allowed to vote in the upcoming general election in ten days, according to two major political parties.
The advance poll is set to take place this Friday, September 9.
The Parliamentary Registration Department has been holding meetings with all political stakeholders concerning all aspects of the voting process in recent days.
Each candidate is entitled to three agents at each polling station; however, both major parties have agreed to reduce this number to two people for seats that are heavily contested.
Eyewitness News spoke to both Free National Movement (FNM) Chairman Carl Culmer and one of the Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) election coordinators, Valentine Grimes, yesterday.
Grimes said the PLP believes people who have been ordered to quarantine but test negative for COVID-19 should be allowed to vote.
Grimes said: “We have raised the issue, we are deeply conscious of the need to protect the general public but we are also conscious of the right of a person to vote. In particular, we thought that persons who may be quarantined but test negative for COVID-19, that some provision ought to be made for them to vote. Regrettably that appears not to have been the case.”
Culmer declined to comment on his party’s position as it relates to quarantined voters yesterday, telling Eyewitness News that the party will wait on the final determination of Acting Parliamentary Commissioner Lavado Duncanson.
The FNM chairman reportedly told a local daily last week that he did not support allowing quarantined people to come out to the polls on September 16.
Yesterday, Culmer said the party was represented by an election agent and Deputy Prime Minister Desmond Bannister in meeting with Duncanson last Thursday.
For his part, Duncanson has previously advised that his department intends to conduct the elections in full accordance with the Parliamentary Elections Act. When questioned yesterday, he declined further comment but noted a fuller statement would be forthcoming on the matter.
Duncanson also confirmed that notices concerning the voters register would be posted, and the listing made available for public viewing today.
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