Electoral officials pleased with increased number of voters

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, Apr 7, CMC – Grenada electoral officials say more than 2,000 names have been added to the Voters List since the November 2016 referendum as the island prepares for a general election that though constitutionally due next year, could be held later this year.
Supervisor of Elections, Alex Phillip, said the increase in the number of voters could be as a result of the project undertaken by the Parliamentary Elections Office to educate students about the benefit of registering when they reach the age of 18.
“What we are seeing is that once young people turn 18 they are getting registered, the addendum has shown an increase in the consolidated Voters List growing since we had the November referendum,” said Phillip, noting that for the referendum where Grenadians voted against a number of measures, including a fixed date for general elections, there were 70,714 registered voters.
“For the addendum which is up for scrutiny as of today Friday April 07, the Consolidated List now stands just little beyond 72,000 and that is because of the amount of young people who have decided to register once they turn 18,” he said.
Phillip said that all registered persons will have until April 18 to file complains about the list and urged persons to scrutinize the list to ensure that the information is correct.
‘Besides going through the list in the traditional format, persons can now go to our website and search the list to confirm that they are registered properly,” he said.
The law governing the general elections process provides for ongoing registration of voters and mandates that a consolidated be publish every quarter. The list will be reflective of all persons registered up to March 31^st 2017.
A general election is constitutionally due no later than May 2018, but there is widespread speculation here that Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell, who led his ruling New National Party (NNP) to victory in 2013 by winning all 15 seats, will go for an early poll.
The other main party expected to contest the election is the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Last week, Parliament gave approval for a new symbol for use in a general election. That symbol which is a hand surrounding by chain is schedule to get the approval of the Upper House of Parliament or the Senate at its sitting next week Thursday.
The Parliamentary Office says that at present there are 30 registered symbols.