LDS objects to Bill on electoral arrangement for Perseverance |10 June 2016

Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS) has objected to the Bill drawn up by the Attorney General’s Office to amend the Elections Act to make provision for residents of Perseverance to vote in other districts once again for the forthcoming National Assembly elections.

Likewise, it has also objected to the decision of the Electoral Commission to submit a proposal to that effect instead of acting on other solutions which it says would have “better served the interests of democracy and a proper electoral process”.

The Bill makes provision for the residents of the district to vote in the electoral area in which they formerly resided and for another election to be held in Ile Perseverance itself within a year after the dissolution of the present National Assembly.

“This arrangement is being implemented despite the repeated requests for Ile Perseverance residents to be registered to vote in their own electoral area. It will distort the electoral process in that the residents of Perseverance will be voting twice in two different electoral areas and for two different members of the National Assembly,” says LDS in a communiqué.

“The action of the Attorney General is only manipulating the law to allow for an irregular procedure which does not respect the spirit of democracy. It ignores the only correct solution to the problem which would be for amendments to the law to allow the Ile Perseverance area to be fully established immediately. The problem has been caused only by a failure of President James Michel to meet his responsibilities to complete the creation of the electoral area,” adds the communiqué.

LDS has called on the Attorney General to reconsider and to seek other solutions to resolve the problem.

“Given the situation that has arisen, the only proper arrangement will be for residents not to vote in other electoral areas but for the electoral process to be started for an election to be held in Ile Perseverance in the shortest possible delay, even if not together with the other districts in the forthcoming elections,” LDS suggests in its communiqué.