ST. GEORGE ‘S, Grenada: GOVERNOR GENERAL Sir Daniel Williams is moving towards setting up an official inquiry into the conduct of the island’s general elections, sources have told CARIBUPDATE.COM. Sir Daniel has decided on the set-up of a three-man commission taking the lead from a submission from cabinet that an inquiry should be held on the controversial conduct of last year’s poll. According to our sources, the Governor General will soon invite both the government and the official parliamentary opposition to nominate one member to that commission. He will then go on to appoint his own as chairman. Under the terms and conditions the Governor General’s office is drawing up this week, the three-man commission will have three months to complete its work. Sir Daniel wants a full investigation into how voters were registered from the first of January last year, and the details of the procedure to revise the list. Apparently concerned about accusations that there might have been tampering with names at the electoral office, the commission will also be mandated to examine the issue of the security of the data. Another area for investigation will be the criteria used for appointing presiding officers and poll clerks. In a belated court injunction, the ruling New National Party’s defeated candidate Adrian Mitchell wants the result against him in St Patrick’s East be over-turn because he said one of the presiding officers was a known opposition activist. The commission is also to seek to find out how the process ran on Election Day itself on November 27th, and the overall conduct of all the political parties during the campaign. Both government and opposition officials have been critical of how the poll was administered and both have vowed to work together on electoral reform. In their view the process was so flawed that it has resulted in three court challenges. The most serious of those is considered to be in Carriacou, where incumbent Elvin Nimrod edged out NDC’s Deputy Leader George Prime by six votes. Prime is challenging the result primarily based on the report that about a dozen of his supporters were not allowed to vote because their names were left out of the final voters’ list. That matter is expected to be dealt with in court next month. Nimrod himself has been on record as saying that there were indeed irregularities in Carriacou, but he has argued it adversely affected him more. Ruling party candidates have challenged the results in two seats – St Patrick’s East and St George’s south – but there is a debate as to whether those challenges were filed too late under Grenada’s elections rules. But Carriacou is considered to be the crucial case because of the closeness of the race there and the potential, if the results are over-turned, to force a change in government. An Organization of American States observe team report on last year’s Grenada’s elections said it was essentially free and fair but highlighted some poor administration of the process. Supervisor of Elections Victor Ashby has however consistently defended his team’s administration of the process. While it is expected that when the announcement of the commission comes it will generally be well accepted by both government and opposition officials, it has been pointed out by our sources that there might be some questions asked as to why the Governor General needed a cabinet decision to act on the matter. SOURCE: CARIBUPDATE.COM