Residents in the St Peter and St Mary’s South constituencies will now have to report to the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission’s (ABEC) central registration facility to conduct business.
“The St Peter unit was at the Parham Primary School and the St Mary’s unit was at Bolans, but since the reopening of school, and we are facing that challenge with social distancing and needing more room, we had to make a tough call to relocate those units. Plans are in motion to find a suitable space within the constituencies to make it convenient for constituents. However, until then, those two units are located at the central registration facility on Factory Road,” said Elisa Graham, the PRO for the ABEC.
She also revealed that after three years, the Commission’s unit on Barbuda has now been reopened at the Holy Trinity School.
In the past, some had criticised plans to relocate registration offices outside of constituencies. They suggested that that was an illegal move, but Graham said this is not so.
She said that the Representation of the People Act gives the commission the right to place the unit anywhere it deems fit, even if it is outside of the constituency in question.