| WFD upbeat about elections, draft election ordinance published | | Print | |
| Written by Richard Green/richard@fptci.com | |||
| Monday, 02 April 2012 15:40 | |||
 A group of U.K. officials working with local political parties to draft rules governing the conduct of parties and candidates say they are surprised by progress that has been made and are upbeat about elections being held before the end of the year. “Perfectly doable,” said Labour MP John Spellar, who led the four-man Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) delegation that visited the Turks and Caicos Islands on March 26-30. On March 29, the interim government published a 73-page draft with revisions to the existing election ordinance that sets out the mechanics of elections, such as voting places, procedures and ballots. While the WFD did not help write that document, the delegation has received input on that ordinance that will be considered during consultation before it is approved. Comments on the draft election ordinance will be accepted until April 10 by e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The WFD is helping with a separate ordinance that sets out rules for the conduct and activities of political parties and candidates during election campaigns. Both ordinances must go before the Consultative Forum and Advisory Council before approval. Spellar first visited the TCI in October to begin consultations with political parties and other stakeholders to bring election procedures up to international standards. With him on this trip were Scott Martin, a Scottish National Party lawyer specialising in electoral law and the law of political party finance; Conservative MP Andrew Percy who serves on Parliament’s Regulatory Reform Committee; and Liberal Democrat Councillor Keith House. Martin summed up the group’s optimism, saying they were “very surprised at the positivity that has come out of the meetings.” Spellar, who is a Shadow Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Minister, said the parties agreed on more points than they disagreed, including campaign finance rules. For example, they want limits so that campaign spending doesn’t get out of hand as in the U.S., but they don’t think limiting campaign contributions from only eligible voters will work in the TCI with the small number of voters. Parties agreed that long-time residents should be allowed to contribute because they have a stake in the country, even though they can’t vote. “That’s a very valid point and one we need to take away for further consideration,” Spellar said. The delegation met separately with members of the Progressive National Party and the People’s Democratic Movement and also with both parties together in one meeting. “Now that we have both parties in the same room working constructively both with us and each other and doing so with good humour and good grace I think shows really good positive signs for the future,” Percy said. “There shouldn’t be any doubt at all that the U.K. government wants the House of Assembly up and running, and I think we’ve been really encouraged by the progress that has been made, but there are still other factors that have to be resolved and signing off on the milestones.” The WFD is a democracy building foundation established in 1992 as an independent public body sponsored by the FCO. It has party-to-party programmes with dozens of countries in Africa, Europe, Middle East, North Africa and elsewhere. Click here to read the draft election ordinance Photo: John Spellar
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