Zabaneh name strike off voting list

Emilio Zabaneh

A date for the upcoming General Elections remains to be confirmed and across the country preparations are underway to ensure that the registration of first-time voters goes smoothly. But in Independence Village, one man was surprised when he discovered on Saturday that his name was removed from the voters list for Stann Creek West by the Elections and Boundaries Department.  Antonio Zabaneh Jr. says his name was struck-off the list because he has been reported dead since 2010.  The error was not discovered until over the weekend when his brother, Emilio Zabaneh, chairman for that constituency, had a chance to peruse the list of voters in Stann Creek West.  What is puzzling, Zabaneh says, is that he is now being forced to re-register despite proving his identity.

Via Phone: Emilio Zabaneh, P.U.P. Chairman, Stann Creek West

“On Saturday we had a meeting and as chairman of Stann Creek West, we started reviewing our voters list. So I was privy to have the Independence Village voters list and as I went through it, I realized that my little brother was not on the list. And so I called them up and I told them that for whatever reason he wasn’t on the list. And he said he will check into it Monday morning. So he called up elections and boundaries in Dangriga and he was informed that they had information that he was deceased. And so he was told to come in and look into it. Subsequent to that he went in there and he4 was instructed to re-register to get back on the list. And then he went to Dangriga and he found out that he’s been deemed deceased since 2010 from the voters list. That’s the situation with that. It is an amazing story that you could die and be walking around alive and well.  He was informed by them that this came down to them from the assistant chief executive officer of elections and boundaries and he was told to get in touch with Francisco Zuniga and that they had information and this was gazette that he had died and there was a newspaper article to reference his death and this was how he was struck from it. This is what he told me and my problem is that he needs to re-register. Why does he need to re-register? They should say this is a mistake; he brought in his ID; he’s alive—everything matches up and we’ll put you back on. Why is the onus on him to now re-register. What about other people that are struck like that. He said he was looking through the list because the lady said well maybe you can help me since you’re from the village and he looked through it and said that there were two people on there that he was able to identify that were alive and well in Independence and not death; yet these people are almost ready to strike them because they are dead.”