The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

FNM senior adviser Michael Scott, KC, is calling for international observers to monitor this year’s general election, citing what he said are mounting concerns about the integrity of the voter register.

Mr Scott, a council member and senior attorney who said he plans to work the polls, made the appeal as he pointed to what he described as a growing list of irregularities in the electoral process.

Among them, he said, are reports of deceased people remaining on the register and voters who have relocated still assigned to their former constituencies.

He said he was told this week that 425 people who left Garden Hills were still listed there, while 234 deceased people remained on the register in MICAL. He said the cases were not isolated.

Mr Scott is the latest FNM figure to raise concerns about the register following similar complaints after last year’s Golden Isles by-election.

“What I'm suggesting is that a flawed register, while it does not prove wrongdoing, it creates the opportunity for it and that must be unacceptable in a democracy,” he said. “And so at the end of the day, this is not about politics. It's about confidence.”

Parliamentary Commissioner Harrison Thompson said he was unaware of the specific allegations, calling it the first time he had heard of them.

He said the department continues to clean the register daily, including working through a list of deceased voters recently received from the Registrar General.

“We’re doing our endeavour best to make sure we have a clean register for when election is called,” Mr Thompson said.

Mr Scott also criticised long wait times at voter registration sites, describing them as unacceptable.

He claimed a party candidate who took first-time voters to register on Saturday was delayed because he wore a red shirt. Some voters reported waiting up to four hours, describing a slow, paper-based process that struggled to keep pace with demand.

Mr Thompson acknowledged the delays and said additional staff are being deployed to reduce wait times.

“It’s many factors,” he said, “but we’re increasing the manpower to try to ensure we can do what we can to mitigate it.”

Mr Scott said broader reforms are needed, warning that a permanent register without an automatic cleansing system becomes a “permanent repository of error.”

He said FNM representatives have been visiting registration centres across New Providence and auditing daily printouts to ensure records are accurate.

“That’s tedious, but it’s not our responsibility,” he added. “This is the responsibility of the government.”

He also raised concerns about what he described as an “influx of voters” from the southeast, accusing authorities of using the group to “form an extra cadre of voters.”

He said the party lacks confidence in the process, particularly with the expected dissolution of Parliament approaching.

International observer missions, including those from the Organisation of American States and the Commonwealth, have historically monitored Bahamian elections, praising their credibility while noting systemic weaknesses.

“There is no time to fix the system,” Mr Scott said. “We can only ensure transparency and oversight. That is why international observers are now essential. If the process is sound, scrutiny will confirm it. If it is now, the people deserve to know.”