Antiguan Tribunal to probe commissioners

Antiguan authorities are setting up a tribunal to investigate the conduct of three members of the country’s Electoral Commission.



The governor-general has written to the chief justice of the OECS Supreme Court requesting the probe into the Commission’s chairman, his deputy and a third member.



Governor-General, Dame Louise Lake-Tack, has informed Opposition Leader, Lester Bird, about the decision to have the chief justice set up a three-member panel.



More than a week ago, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer wrote to Dame Louise outlining what he termed breaches of the electoral law allegedly committed by Commission Chairman, Gerald Watt, and his deputy, Nathaniel Paddy James.



The Prime Minister said the breaches included the late opening of polling stations during the March 2009 general election, and a severely tainted voters’ list.