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Election Pamphlet

This pamphlet provides basic information on the new electoral system and serves to highlight the consequential amendments as stipulated in the Elections Ordinance.

1. Every person who is eligible to vote must be registered as a voter in a single polling division.
2. To be registered as a voter one must:

(a) be eighteen (18) years or older at the time of registration;

(b) not be a lunatic as found under any law in force in the Colony (Montserrat);

(c) be a Commonwealth Citizen and be resident in Montserrat for thirty six (36) months immediately preceding the date of                  registration as a voter or is domiciled in the Colony (Montserrat) and is resident therein at the date of such registration;

(d) not be disqualified under the provisions of the Elections Ordinance from being registered as a voter;

(e) not have been sentenced by any court in Her Majesty’s Protection to death, penal servitude or imprisonment for a term exceeding twelve (12) months and has not either suffered the punishment to which he was sentenced or such other punishment as by competent authority – which may have been substituted for the same or received a free pardon from Her Majesty.

ELECTIONS OFFICERS

(I) THE SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS

The Supervisor of Elections shall

• Exercise general direction and supervision over the administrative conduct of elections and enforce on the part of all elections officers fairness, impartiality and compliance with the provisions of the Elections Ordinance;

• Issue to elections officers such instructions as from time to time she may deem necessary to ensure effective execution of the provisions of this ordinance;

• appoint a person to be the Registering Officer for Montserrat and persons to be Assistant Registration Officers as she sees fit.

The Registering Officer and every Assistant Registering Officer shall, before entering on his duties as such take and subscribe an oath in the form set out in the Second Schedule and shall transmit such oath to the Supervisor of Elections.

The Registering Officer shall prepare in relation to each polling division a preliminary list of voters.

The Registering Officer shall examine the qualification in respect of which a claim to be registered as a voter is made and shall receive such evidence as may be necessary to prove to his satisfaction that claimant possesses the qualifications in respect of which he claims to be registered as a voter.

The Registering Officer shall within twenty- one (21) days ascertain whether any of the voters registered as voters in the Register of Voters for the Electoral District, have ceased to retain the qualifications in respect of which they were registered or whether any of them are dead and he shall in the next list of voters to be made up by him in accordance with the provisions of section 43 write the words "objected to" against the name of every person who he has cause to believe, has ceased to retain the qualifications in respect of which he was registered, and shall write the word, "Dead" against the name of every person who he has cause to believe is dead.

The Registering Officer shall within the space of twenty-one (21) days from the last day upon which any notice of claim as provided in subsection (2) of section 42 is allowed to be made, prepare an alphabetical list in the form set out as Form No. 3 in the Second Schedule of all persons residing in the electoral district for which he is appointed who in his opinion are entitled to be registered as voters, and shall cause a copy of such list herein referred to as the (first list of voters) dated and signed by him to be posted on the outer doors of the Court House, Police Station, church, chapel, school, house or other building in the Electoral District which in his opinion will give publicity to such list. 

The Registering Officer shall ensure that the first list of voters shall during the course of business in each day for a period of ten (10) days after the posting thereof be open to inspection of the public free of charge at every police station in the Electoral District to which such list applies and at the Court House in Brades.

The Registering Officer shall prepare a Voters List in alphabetical order of all persons entitled to vote within a specified time and shall publish the same on the notice board of the Court House - Brades, Police Station, or any public building where it can be viewed by all persons concerned.

For the purposes of registration and voting the single island constituency will be subdivided into convenient polling divisions by physical boundaries as listed.

1. Belham River and Runaway Ghaut from coast to source.

2. Runaway Ghaut and Soldier Ghaut from coast to source.

3. Soldier Ghaut and Caines River/Collins River from coast to source.

4. Collins River from coast up to junction of Yellow Hill and Northern Main Road; Down Yellow Hill Road to Hospital junction; Trants road to Quashie Spring; Along Quashie Spring to junction with Brimm’s Ghaut; Brimm’s Ghaut to coast line.

5. Bottomless Ghaut from source to Trant’s Road; Trant’s Road to Hospital junction; Yellow Hill road to junction with Northern Main Road; Down Collins River to junction with Caines River; Up Caines River to source.

6. Brimm’s Ghaut from coast to junction with Quashie Spring; Along Quashie Spring to Trants Road; Along Trants Road to Bottomless Ghaut; Bottomless Ghaut to coast.

Division 1     Salem Primary School

Division 2     St. Peter’s Community Centre

Division 3    Cudjoe Head Police Station, Brades Primary School

Division 4    NDF Building, Davy Hill

Division 6    Former Casualty Building, St. John’s

Division 7    Lookout School

(a) Salem

• Methodist Church
• Anglican Church
• Catholic Church
• Pentecostal Church
• Police Station
• Royal Bank of Canada
• Arrow’s Manshop
• Stationery Centre

(b) St. Peter’s

• St. Peter’s Rectory
• St. Peter’s Clinic
• Beulah Weslyan Holiness
• Bank of Montserrat

(c) Cudjoe Head

• Pentecostal Church
• Lydia’s Bar
• Cavalla Hill Church
• Cudjoe Head Police Station

(d) Brades

• Brades Primary School
• Brades Pentecostal Church
• Agriculture Department
• Post Office
• Court House
• Clerk of Councils’ Office

(e) Davy Hill

• Davy Hill Wesleyan Holiness Church
• Scott’s Bakery
• N.D.F. Building

(f) St John’s

• Day Care Centre
• Judy Piece Methodist Church
• Nixon Daley’s Shop

(g) Lookout

• Lookout Secondary School

1. Each voter has nine (9) votes. This means that he/she is entitled to vote for nine (9) candidates.

2. Each voter would only be permitted to cast his/her votes in the polling division in which he/she is registered.

3. Each voter must place an X in the slots next to the names and photographs of the persons he/she wishes to vote for on the Ballot Paper.

A spoiled ballot could fall into any of the following categories:

• A ballot with ten or more X’s in ten (10) or more different slots on the ballot paper.

• A ballot with more than one X in any given slot on the ballot paper.

• A ballot on which was placed any symbol other than an X.

1. The nine persons receiving the highest number of votes cast and receiving not less than six (6) percentum per person of the total number of votes cast, shall make up the Legislative Council.

2. Those persons who did not receive six (6) percentum of the number of valid ballots shall be required to stand once more for seats still unfilled in the Council.

3. The person(s) receiving the highest number of votes cast, not being less than six (6) percentum, shall be declared elected to the seat(s) to be filled.

4. Where there is an equality of votes between two or more candidates who though they may have received six(6) percentum of the votes, have received the least number of votes of those candidates who would otherwise have been declared elected and   

   Where to declare those candidates with an equality of votes elected would result in the election of more than nine (9) members, those receiving an equal number of votes shall not be declared to be elected but shall be required to stand once more for elections.

5. A candidate shall lose his deposit if he has received less than six percentum of the number of valid ballots in the election and has failed to win a seat in the subsequent election run-off.

Tel. 664-491-2195 • Fax. 664-491-6885

Office Hours will be from 8:30 a.m – 3:30 p.m. Monday to Friday (except for Public Holidays).

Supervisor of Elections - Claudette Weekes (Mrs) - Clerk of Councils

Registering Officer - Marjorie Meade (Mrs) - Former Training Officer

Click on the ballot to see a larger version