The Organization of American States (OAS) election observers today expressed their satisfaction in the conduct of yesterday’s general elections in Antigua and Barbuda. The polls returned Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer’s United Progressive Party (UPP) to power for another five years after it won nine of the 17 parliamentary seats. Seven seats went to the opposition Antigua Labour Party (ALP) of Lester Bird, while the Barbuda People’s Movement (BPM) won the lone seat that was at stake on that smaller sister island. Former Barbados Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Dame Billie Miller, who led the OAS Electoral Observation Mission in Antigua and Barbuda, told a press conference at the Jolly Beach Hotel in Bolan’s Village that in the view of the 23-member OAS Mission, Thursday’s general elections unfolded in an atmosphere of calm that was “very reassuring.” OAS Assistant Secretary General Albert R. Ramdin and Deputy Chief of Mission Steven Griner, a senior specialist with the OAS Department of Electoral Cooperation and Observation, accompanied the Mission Chief at the press conference. The OAS observed important aspects of the election process over a period, and on election day deployed its members to cover all 17 electoral constituencies and all of the 151 polling stations across the country, including on Barbuda. They observed the opening of polls and all aspects of the balloting and other operations at the polling stations, as well as the closing of the polls and the counting and transmission of ballots. Hitches observed included delays in the opening of polls in six constituencies, but Miller also accentuated the positive outcomes of general election day such as the fact that, “for 11 of the 17 constituencies, all of the polling stations opened on time.” Election officials were there in place and lines of voters were long, but by mid-day most of the processing was done. The OAS observers also reported only minor infringements such as billboards and posters well within the requisite 100-yards from polling stations, but the OAS Chief of Mission explained that “these were not infringements that in our view would have compromised the electoral process in any way.” As part of an important effort to improve the Caribbean nation’s electoral system, Miller said the OAS Mission will recommend that the government institute a national identity card to “make the entire electoral and other civic processes so much easier.” She pointed as well to areas of more duplications than necessary, among them aspects of the identification process at the polling station, including how people identified themselves and the search for their names on the voter’s register. She noted how in some polling stations “we thought the process appeared to be overly cumbersome and could be streamlined.” Recommendations will be included in the final report that the Electoral Observation Mission will present to the OAS Permanent Council in Washington next week. “We will then get into perhaps more details as to ways in which greater efficiency and greater effectiveness can be brought to the voting process,” Dame Billie explained. She particularly emphasized the need for all of the stakeholders to take an active role in the voter registration process. After it is presented to the Permanent Council, the report of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission in Antigua and Barbuda will also be made available online, at http://www.oas.org. Press release from OAS INSIDE GRENADA NEWS