Following CCJ ruling, Barbados EBC registers Saint Lucian academic

By Michelle Nurse On May 15, 2018

From left, Queens Counsel Elliott Mottley, Professor Eddy Ventose, attorneys-at-law Faye Finnisterre, Gregory Nicholls and Alicia Carter outside of the Supreme Court (Photo via Barbados Today)

St. Lucian professor and three other Commonwealth citizens who had sued the Electoral and Boundaries Commission (EBC) for refusing to include their names on the electoral list, have finally registered to vote in the May 24 general election in Barbados.

Chief Electoral Officer Angela Taylor was ordered yesterday by the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to ensure that Ventose, the principal applicant in the class action suit, was registered before noon today or risk imprisonment and/or fines.

ICYMI: @CaribbeanCourt affirms Professor Ventose’s right to vote in Barbados https://t.co/YH0uqBzKEW pic.twitter.com/KFmn6ZEHZT

— CARICOM (@CARICOMorg) May 14, 2018

“All of the litigants in the matter have been registered and have received confirmation that they are on the voters’ list,” attorney Gregory Nicholls, who is part of the legal team representing the litigants, told Barbados TODAY this afternoon.

Nicholls said since the lawsuit was filed, a number of Commonwealth citizens had contacted the legal team advising that they had registered but their names did not appear on the voters’ list, adding that he was not certain about their fate.