Opposition Leader Blames Elections and Boundaries Department

John Briceño

The Elections and Boundaries Department says that registering officers shall conduct investigations into the facts set out in each application. If the registering officer is not satisfied then the elector is disallowed. On the other hand, in cases where the registering officer is satisfied that the applicant meets the qualifications, that elector’s name is included in the monthly supplementary list. In the recent cases that have emerged, Leader of the Opposition John Briceño is putting the blame squarely at the feet of Josephine Tamai, Chief Elections Officer.

Hipolito Novelo

“Sir the criticism is that historically both parties are guilty of this, padding residences to get more voters in several divisions. It is like “you do it, I will do it let’s see who does it better.” What is your response to that criticism?”

John Briceño, Leader of the Opposition

“The thing is that what we need to point out at this time is that the Government is controlling the Elections and Boundaries Commission despite the fact that legally they shouldn’t. They are the ones where you see some gross abuses of these padded houses with twenty, forty, fifty people. There have been cases where there are just a house lot, there is not even a house and they are registering people there. The Elections and Boundaries offices allow it to happen knowing full well that it is illegal what these people are doing. You need to put the blames squarely on the hands of Ms. Tamai as the Chief Elections Officer along with her people that are allowing the abuse of the system in particular by the U.D.P. ministers.”