Jamaican living in Barbados wins right to vote in upcoming elections

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, May 8, CMC – The Court of Appeal has paved the way for people residing in Barbados for more than three years to be included on the list of voters as Barbadians get ready to elect a new government on May 24.

Attorney Gregory Nicholls said that the Court of Appeal Monday threw out long-standing rules that barred Commonwealth citizens resident in the country for three years from voting.

He said the Appellate Court ruled that the Electoral and Boundaries Commission (EBC) and the Chief Electoral Officer unlawfully refused to register his clients on the electoral list.

"What the Court did was to examine the Representation of the People Act. Not only must one be qualified to register, one must actually fill out the Form 1 application form. Section 7 sets out the criteria for eligibility, which is you’re either a citizen of Barbados or a Commonwealth citizen who has been residing in Barbados for three years,".

"The words of the Court of Appeal were that the EBC is prohibited from relying on their longstanding policy as the criteria to determine eligibility as an elector, and they must rely only on Section 7 and 11 of the Representation of the People Act to determine eligibility," he said.

Previously, the EBC had stated it was its long-held policy that the agency was not authorised to register anyone as an elector in Barbados unless that person was a citizen or person having the immigration status of resident or immigrant in Barbados.

In February, Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson ruled that Commonwealth citizens who meet the requirements under the Representation of the People Act have a right to vote in Barbados after the four Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nationals, who have been living in the country for more than a decade, challenged their exclusion from the voters’ list.

St Lucian-born academic Professor Eddy Ventose, Grenadian Shireene Ann Mathlin-Tulloch, Jamaican Michelle Melissa Russell, and Montserratian Sharon Juliet Edgecombe-Miller had sought to get their names included on the electoral list in time for the next general election, to be held on May 24.

But they said they had been told by the EBC that they were not eligible to be on the list, as they did not enjoy permanent residency, immigrant status or citizenship of Barbados.

But, in his ruling, the Chief Justice said that any decision to exclude them would be in violation of the Act, which does not make it mandatory for the applicants to be permanent residents, immigrants or citizens of Barbados in order to vote.

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