LDS proposes process for Perseverance to become an electoral area immediately |30 April 2016
Political parties of Linyon Demokratik Seselwa met representatives of the Electoral Commission yesterday to discuss the issue of declaring Perseverance an electoral area in time for the forthcoming National Assembly elections.
According to a press release from Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS), Electoral Commission chairman Hendricks Gappy and legal counsel Samantha Aglae, who represented the commission, said the meeting was to get the proposals of the parties on how this could be done in view of the time constraints imposed by the provisions of the Constitution and the Elections Act.
The release adds that the proposal to declare Perseverance an electoral area was contained in a Draft Order passed by the National Assembly in October 2015. The Draft Order needs to be approved by the President and gazetted. This has not yet been done.
Under article 116 (5) of the Constitution Perseverance will become an electoral area only at the dissolution of the present National Assembly for the next elections. The procedures for registration of voters under the Elections Act can take several weeks.
These provisions mean that they will not be registered in time to vote at the National Assembly elections.
The bloc of parties in Linyon Demokratik Seselwa has made proposals for legal amendments to overcome the present obstacles.
These are:
- Article 116 (5) of the Constitution to be amended for Perseverance to become an electoral area immediately when the Order is gazetted, not waiting for the Assembly to be dissolved.
- The Elections Act to be amended for residents of Perseverance to be registered based on the existing list of residents used in the 2015 elections.
The Linyon Demokratik Seselwa parties have said the legal steps to establish the electoral area can be concluded within a week, and registration of voters can be concluded in time for the Assembly elections.
What is required is for the National Assembly to be called into session to pass these amendments and for the President to approve the Order and have it published.
“The responsibility falls on James Michel to have these steps taken immediately. Not doing so will mean disenfranchising the residents of Perseverance by denying them the right to register in an electoral district in which they live and denying them the right to vote for a member of the National Assembly to represent their district,” write the release signed by Linyon Demokratik Seselwa chairman Roger Mancienne.