Voters relocated, flocked select districts to ‘manipulate’ results, Election Observers suspect
A team of international and independent officials who were deployed to the territory to observe the 2019 General Elections said they suspect voters had been migrating from one district to another to “manipulate the results” in select constituencies.
The observers — the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association British Islands and Mediterranean Region (CPA BIMR) — said the number of voters in two electoral districts had significantly increased when compared to previous elections.
This increase was what prompted their suspicion, the CPA BIMR told local media on Wednesday.
The team, who provided a preliminary report of their observations at the conclusion of the elections on Monday, said: “The increase in the number of voters registered especially for Districts 5 and 8 triggered suspicions about voters being registered outside their place of residence to influence the outcome of the election. A lack of resources and adequate verification undertaken by the election administration may have contributed to this sentiment.”
“Because of those gaps in the legislative and procedural frameworks, that was considered to have built a distrustful viewpoint by the public,” added CPA BIMR official, Matthew Salik.
The observers noted that the increase in voters in District 5 might be connected to the by-election that was expected to have happened after the untimely death of the constituency’s previous representative, Delores Christopher.
Notably, the observers said they found ‘no real evidence’ of corruption during their observation.
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BS. Go back to your community and monitor your own.
In the UK the abuse of postal votes, especially in certain immigrant communities, is rife. Whilst Mr. Salik may have experience of observing election fraud, if he has observed an election in any Labour constituency in the UK, he does not seem to have done anything to stop it. Maybe he should try to fix the problem at home before he comes here again.
I am sure that all the Government initiatives that have suddenly come to fruition over the last 8 weeks had nothing to do with the election. Much as I am sure that the last time there was a serious smartening up of Road Town had nothing to do with the visit of Princess Anne. However, maybe we should have an election every month or so!
BVI cannot take correction come on. Its just an observation
Quite a lot of people have moved around since that dam hurricane, did they take that into consideration… that being said they need to check the immigration dept for the numbers coming in from overseas with them buy election flight tickets (match that up against the voter registration list), then the other matter of them buy election envelopes…
I will not dismiss the findings how ever they need to be reminded after the hurricane a lot of people were displaced and now reside in different districts.
i agree, But JT apartment in the 5D can’t hold the 300+ persons the say they moved there after the hurricane so they changed voting in other districts.
and how come no one can put a thumbs down to Concern” comment.”? See how conceited these english crackers are.
You are absolutely correct . in your observations and statements..
@Anonymous. Go take your ignorance some where else!
Why are you projecting this on to the UK? These are “independent” observers just like your auditor general who are simply reporting their findings. I am a belonger living away and if some of you could only realize how ignorant your comments come across and stopped commenting until your minds are in a healthy space, the BVI would be better off.
I am afraid the way things are going…if some.of you don’t change and you have your way the BVI will be courting a personality like Mwocabee or Haiti’s Papa Doc as leader for the country. You can dislike the comment all day long, but I am sharing the perspective of someone who has lived outside of the BVI for 30 plus years and have traveled the world…and what some of you put in these comments “AINT PRETTY” the way you think scare the hell out of me and makes me afraid to buy, build or invest anything in BVI.
THANK YOU
He is just doing his job. Please stop embarrassing the BVI with your bad manners!
He didn’t ask to come here to observe. We asked him to come and observe. You upset at a man for making an OBSERVATION! We to sensitive sometimes man it’s not all critics are offensive critics so need to get defensive he’s just stating an OBSERVATION…lol
The African is a conniving individual without any morals. Thus, the observations made by the observers are probably correct. It is all the more reason why the belonger status needs to be dissolved. All residents of the Territory that hold British passports should be allowed to vote, hold office, purchase property equal to the African. The racist African needs to realize the direction the Territory is heading. They can be an integral part or lay waste on the roadside.
Do these people realise that since the hurricanes, a lot of people have had to relocate? Did these moomoos take that into consideration?? Mehson go back to your dang country and keep your propoganda and fake news there!!! Struupes….. Moving along..
Registered voters WHO do not reside in the BVI 6months prior to elections, SHOULD NOT be allowed to vote. It’s NOT fair for us living under undesirable conditions and for other people to upset our voting voice for change. Dem still buy votes to loose!
So you want island people to vote and not our locals abroad?
That is not what “NO NONSENCE” was saying, they are referring to persons who are from the BVI but have not resided her 6 months prior to an election. I agree.
Another thing, we are all island people because we live on an island and not a continent.
@no, Thank you, I fully agree to your comment. I know of a few people that is living in the United States that were offered round trip plane tickets to fly in to vote. Also, a lot of people from the BVI living in ST.Thomas came over to vote.
only because the ndp lost?
Just because someone is temporarily away does not mean that they should not be allowed to vote. They may have land in their districts, business and such and still will be affected.
That is true. Students and persons temporarily away should be able to come and vote; on the flip side persons who for example have finished school and have decided to take residency elsewhere for various reasons such as “ the BVI ain’t have nothing for them or it not good enough or they can deal with the island” should not be allowed to vote. You paying taxes in another country and contributing nothing to the BVI but come in every election and vote. This needs to be revised.
They also pay land and house tax here. Many worked here for years and have vested interests, some have worked and paid social for many years before leaving. I say they are ENTITLED to vote and help to shape the Territory where they may one day retire.
Point taken…but if I am home during an Election, I’m going to Vote! It’s My Rights till I die!
The BVI is know for doing things like that. People in the BVI make there own rules. They seem to think their behaviour is normal. You canot trust anyone in the BVI. They talk to much and nothing is kept conferdential. To many unqualified family members and friends is holding jobs that they are not qualified for.In the BVI,everyone is related to each other. Good luck with finding the culprit.
Well Said!
The go home if the BVI and its people are not good enough for you. Sick of people who cant go to the US coming here just for the green US dollar calling down the place. You all dont give a s**t about the country so please keep stepping.
This comment is to the blogger who started that I should go home. I’m very well Thank you. You know the saying, you make an assumption towards someone, most of the time the one making the assumption ends up looking like a A** and that is what you are looking like. BOBO, I was born in the Old Peebles Hospital to Parents who was born in the BVI. I am going to say it as I see it and I am sticking to my previous comment. I am a proud Bvislander but I am not going sugercoat S**t.
All this means is that the Office of the Supervisor of Elections probably fell asleep on the job. Given our tiny voter population, pulling any kind of hanky pankies should be near impossible. This is not Nigeria where they had 80-odd million registered voters and 120 thousand polling stations to man. The local registry of voters is small enough that it can be updated regularly to account for deaths, relocations, or people reaching voting age. Let’s not make an issue where none exists.
it is obvious they were not asleep. They worked tirelessly on the election and making it as flawless as possible. if they didnt do a good job the process for voting would have been exhausting. Everything went as smooth it could have been. A few observations are good and we welcome it for next election….
Thank you for coming.
I could tell you. Who they were to scrutinize and demand legitimate proof of residence they didn’t. People registered to apartments that already occupied by other tenants who they not even related too. Hutums Ghut was one of, if not the hardest area hit by Irma…it puzzled me to see so and increase in voters in that district.
I changed residence over two years ago and when I went to them in January to change my registration status they only thing they did ask me for was blood and my heart. I had to go back and take light and water bill for the last six month the least proof of mortgage. Yet all this mess went through, they be hard on who they want that’s why the place so messed up. Politicians and civil citizens all the same….to much favoritisms and bribery.
You don’t understand the system here. What would you say relative to registered voters RESIDING outside of the BVI. How is this different from someone in one district wanting to register in another so that the BEST possible candidates when and we eradicate corruption as a result? You outsiders like to stir up stuff about BVI a mere dot on world map. What BVI really has that you want? Go look at America 2016 election and the Russians aided by Trump, CPA BIMR!!!
Blah Blah Blah
As long as aunty is in control that seat in the ate will never change
It about time to remover her…For what was done to get rid of dancia i say “huh”
why district 8th is questionable? inquiring minds wanna know!
Especially in the 8th. Investigate please.
While I cant dispute his observations, because I wasn’t there, I still have to ask: Since when does the Kingdom actually care about the affairs in this country?
Uhh..Mandatory Public Registers by 2023, Mandatory Same sex marriage imposition acceptance, and Mandatory dismissal of categorical Belongership status-perhaps, all, by the aforementioned date.
I am just not convinced of the sincerity seemingly imposed by this group!
Go back to the Kingdom and share with them that their unfailing support for our elections systems and its’ operations, is perceived as suspiciously, maliciously,and clandestinely, and has rendered your presence in this country null and void, due to the REQUIRED impositions of the aforementioned!
Since Brexit did not go in their favor. The over seas territories need to wake up. UK is losing and they want to grab on to the territories so that they can say they have something.
My People WAKE UP.
Given that the last census reported less than 39% of the total population were BVIslanders, how did we get a number of registered voters nearing 15,000?
39% of a population of around 29,000 is 11,310 BVIslanders of ALL ages, including those old enough to vote AND children.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Population figures you are quoting are inaccurate. There are also BVIslanders abroad who are eligible to vote and exercise their constitutional right to do so.
So marlon win is false?
Of course, especially the 8th! No way the VIP candidate should have been so close to Marlon bug God is good, Marlon prevailed!
Everyone knows that Marlon c——-. Try go siddung ! Can’t fool the people! What’s done in the dark must come to light.
The Russian maybe tampered with the machine to get the results we got????
I want to know why some comments are blocked one way or the other BVI news.
That is not fair journalism.
For example, HRMPH comment, the thumbs up feature is deliberately blocked/disabled on that comment. Why?
Cannot face the numbers that will agree with a truthful comment? Are you really that much a conceited person? Guess so. Stands to reason.
I can see the face of a cheeky english man behind that right now.
Either way, that is low and filthy journalism.
Anyone that denies the heading is clearly delusional
So it must be corruption? It cannot be that with the new voter registration card that people had change their district. I was one, I had to change my district o the fifth since I now have a house there and have since left the 3. Boy when things dont go someones way the must fight to find corruption.
“Don’t surprise me at all” YOUR comment made me regret not running for politics. I might have landed the portfolio of Labour and Immigration.
Or, a plausible explanation could have been that Hurricane IrMaria had displaced a lot of voters who had to change districts.
Why should any Citizen be denied their Constitutionally guaranteed right to vote? You are a Citizen regardless of where you reside. As far a registering in Districts voters don’t live in – that is gerrymandering or cheating…ridiculous to think otherwise…Trump is an example of what the BVI should NOT be…wrong is wrong & generally always comes to light eventually…sad sad sad….
The hurricane displaced tons of ppl loodie
How many dead people voted?
Judging from these and other comments and responses and reactions to other comments over time, these english expatriates really think that they are entitled to and own these here territories.
Well, side bar, show us one legal document of ownership of these here territories and we will not seek reparations or independence for the riches our ancestors have afforded you for centuries that you have so willingly inherited and still live off of today.
Don’t get us started now. We will raise every ancestral spirit from the dead set them upon your soul.
What riches? Can you show us what riches BVI provides the UK?
What, no “white envelopes?” Could it be that they are, in fact, a MYTH?