Thursday, 19th September 2024

"Where are the half a million face masks?" Dr Douglas asks SKN government

Leader of St Kitts and Nevis Labour party has raised his concerns over the electoral office and its failure of announcing protocols of June 05 elections.

Thursday, 4th June 2020

Dr Denzil L Douglas

Leader of St Kitts and Nevis Labour party has raised his concerns over the electoral office and its failure of announcing protocols of June 05 elections. Dr Denzil L. Douglas stated in a press conference on Wednesday that considering the coronavirus crisis, the electoral office was supposed to issue guidelines.

Dr Douglas stated that it is imperative for citizens to follow the protocols during the polling day; however, the electoral office of the country is yet to make any such announcements.

Dr Douglas alleged that the government of St Kitts and Nevis received over half-a-million face masks from friendly countries like Taiwan and some other organisations. Still, so far, the government has not facilitated the citizens with those masks even during the coronavirus crisis.

"We understand that friendly countries and organisations provided more than a half a million face masks, but why the government is hiding them from people?" added Dr Douglas during his Wednesday press conference in Labour party's office.

Furthermore, he added that they are attempting to frustrate voters and suppress voters who will be turned away from polling stations if they don't abide protocols which are not published by the electoral office.

The leader also stated that the electoral office of the country has remained closed for the entire week, denying the use of the office for the public.

Dr Douglas stated that the electoral office has not yet announced the locations of polling stations which are changed from the 2015 elections. He emphasised on the fact that register of voters is also not released to the public.

Besides this, he stated that international organisations wrote to him and stated that they had been disinvited to attend and observe these polls while previously they had made arrangements to do so.

Dr Douglas asserted that St Kitts and Nevis Labour Party does not believe these occurrences are mere coincident, we believe these are deliberate actions meant to create uncertainty, frustration to suppress the voting on June 05, these actions are being taken to undermine the process of democracy.