Electoral commission chair refutes allegations of rigging |12 September 2020

Mr Lucas speaking during the press conference yesterday (Photo: Anel Robert)

By Elsie Pointe

Electoral Commission Seychelles chairman Danny Lucas has point blank refuted allegations of election rigging in regards to the upcoming 2020 elections.

In a press conference yesterday at the Electoral Commission Seychelles (ECS) headquarters at Sacos Tower, he addressed accusations that he was involved in gerrymandering by moving registered voters electoral districts, so as to secure a particular political party some 20 seats in the National Assembly.

“I categorically deny this statement. A responsible person should not be making these types of accusations because it puts into question my own impartiality as well as that of the electoral commission as an institution,” Mr Lucas said.

He added that the accusations are false and malicious, and explained why these claims of gerrymandering are wrong.

“Before, the electoral commission had an executive chairperson who directed the organisation and had total control on the registration officer. But, under the new structures we have established, there is a clear separation of power,” he said.

“The chief electoral officer acts as the chief executive officer of the secretariat and it is he/she who gives directives and controls the operations of the electoral commission.”

“Under the CEO, we have our chief registration officer who is responsible for maintaining the voters’ register and we have a number of registration officers based in different regions[…] All applications in regards to voters transfer have to go through the registration officers in the regions,” explained Mr Lucas.

In addition, Mr Lucas noted that verification officers also undertake home visits to ensure that the persons who are transferring from one electoral district to another are being truthful. The same verification system applies for first time voters.

“For the chairperson of the electoral commission to move people is simply impossible. Staff of the electoral commission has to respect the laws,” he stressed.

“According to the allegations, they said I have engineered to remove around 180 voters in Anse Etoile and moved them to English River, but our statistics show that only nine transactions have been made for transfers from Anse Etoile to English River ‒ nowhere near what the claims are saying,” provided Mr Lucas.

“The person also alleged that over 140 persons were added to the Takamaka election list but again our statistics show that there has been a total of 36 voter transfers for Takamaka. It is quite clear that this person is lying.”

In the same press conference yesterday, Mr Lucas announced the ECS’ stance on whether a same candidate can stand for both the presidential and legislative election.

This is in reference to Ralph Volcère’s initial expression of interest in August to stand in both elections.

“The law makes provisions for an objection to be made towards a person who is nominated or nominates himself as a presidential and legislative candidate. If this happens and the objection is taken up, the electoral commission deduces that it would not be possible for that individual to hold two nominations at the same time,” said Mr Lucas.

“Meanwhile, the law does not stipulate anything in regards to whether the running mate of a presidential hopeful can be nominated for the legislative election.”

It took the commission almost one month to seek for legal advice and deliberate on the issue before they established their position yesterday.

“The reason why we had to hold off in giving a decision in that matter is so that the commission can provide a correct decision. We had engaged with our internal legal adviser but wanted a second, independent opinion for accuracy’s sake.”

Providing an update on nomination process, Mr Lucas established that up to yesterday afternoon, four political parties made their deposit payments for nomination dates for the presidential election, while four political parties and two independent candidates have made their necessary payments to stand in the legislative elections.

Nomination of presidential candidates is set for September 16, 2020 and the date for the nomination of National Assembly candidates is September 18, 2020.