The recent report from election observers should serve as a reminder for the new government to tackle long-needed reforms before voters head to the polls again.
We were pleased that the eight-member team from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association found the April election to be “orderly, peaceful and well-run.”
But the observers also made several recommendations for improvement, many of which echoed the previous CPA missions that have observed each of the territory’s general elections since 2011.
One of the most urgent is implementing campaign finance regulations. Under the territory’s current system — which is out of keeping with international standards and lacks even a semblance of transparency — voters have no idea who is funding candidates.
Campaign-finance legislation, which is commonplace in democracies around the world, would help level the playing field by bringing financial transparency to elections. Such laws often set donation limits and require that contributions be disclosed to the public.
The observers also rightly noted that there is no freedom-of-information law in the territory and recommended enhancing access to information on the territory’s legislative process. We agree wholeheartedly.
Their other recommendations ranged widely:
• consolidating the Elections Act to facilitate ease of access by the public;
• holding voter information campaigns to explain balloting procedures and other technicalities;
• clarifying belongership status (an ongoing process that has been too long delayed in recent months);
• better protecting the voting rights of prisoners serving less than 12 months;
• completing the census (which, again, government says will happen soon);
• improving the electronic voter database;
• introducing temporary measures to boost women’s participating in elections; and
• supporting political participation by people with disabilities by extending to the Virgin Islands the 2008 United National Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, among others.
These recommendations are wise, and we hope the new government will tackle all of them.
Leaders should start soon: The report rightly notes that future amendments to election legislation should be adopted at least a year before the next general election.
Fortunately, most of the needed reforms should be straightforward and uncontroversial — especially given that legislators from both sides of the aisle have expressed their support for many of them during and before the recent campaigns.
Each step they take in this direction will strengthen this democracy and add another feather in their respective caps.