Basseterre, St. Kitts, May 20, 2020 — Former chairman of the co-governing People’s Action Movement (PAM), Chesley Hamilton, has called on Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris to return to parliament and suspend the State of Emergency to allow opposition parties the same level playing field that the governing parties enjoy during the election campaign.
“I am calling on civil society, I am calling on people within the Unity Government, I am calling on Lindsay Grant, I am calling on Shawn Richards, who demonstrated for electoral reform, so that we can have free and fair elections,” said Hamilton, a prominent defence attorney.
Hamilton stated that the State of Emergency during an election period is not only draconian, but removes the fundamental rights of the people. “To have an election that is supposed to be free and fair, a contest of ideas and ideology and expression, when these rules and regulations are in place under a State of Emergency — under a State of Emergency, for all its intents and purposes we have past the worst — and if we have past the worst, I am calling on all people with good conscience to ask the Government to go back into Parliament and remove the State of Emergency.”
“You are wrong, Timothy Harris. Go back to Parliament, call back Parliament and do the right thing and lift the State of Emergency, set the ground rules under COVID-19 in terms of what you can do to conduct an election that is free and fair and free from fear,” Hamilton declared, calling on civil society organisations including the Chamber of Commerce, the Bar Association, and both Christian Councils to break their silence.