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Elections scheduled for April 2011, says overseas territories director Published on Monday, February 8, 2010 Email To Friend    Print Version Colin Roberts, the current Director of Overseas Territories at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London, indicated during a recent visit to the TCI that he expects elections to occur in here by April 2011, fourteen months from now. Overseas Territories Director, Colin Roberts Governor Gordon Wetherell, when dissolving the internal government last year, indicated that Britain would take over administration of the territory for two years “more or less.” The interim government officially took over in mid-August 2009. If the elections occur in April 2011, this will be four months short of the Governor’s prediction. In the meantime, the general election due to be held in Britain, possibly in May or June of this year, now only four months away, has focused the attention of local TCI political activists and the media. Both political parties, the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) and the Progressive National Party (PNP), have remained silent on how the potential change in British politics may affect the TCI’s relationship with a new British government, the FCO, the members of the TCI Interim Government and the eventual return to internal self government in the islands. In recent days, Governor Wetherell has said publicly that, in the next 90 days, the interim government will be addressing the issue of election reform for the islands. In the 2007 election, the PNP had a campaign budget reported to exceed $3 million, while the PDM party reportedly had less than $100,000. It was also reported some weeks ago that certain election paraphernalia was purchased for the PNP using government funds. Another issue that may be addressed is the reported stacking of election districts with nonresident voters and the possibility of voters voting in two different districts. There are only some 7,000 registered voters in the TCI. In the last election, the winning PNP reportedly received 57% of the votes. Roberts also weighed in on the possibility of the British election affecting the status of TCI governance. “I am reasonably confident there would be no significant change because both parties (the incumbent Labour Party and the opposition Conservative Party) have given us (the FCO) cross party support,” he said. Governor Wetherell was also asked recently if he felt a change in the government in Britain would affect his position. The Governor declined to comment. Station WIV Channel 4 TV is but one of the media houses to feature a story on the potential effect of the forthcoming elections in Britain. A portion of this WIV feature was devoted to Shaun Malcolm’s public letter to Britain. The open letter was addressed to Conservative Party leader David Cameron; the current FCO minister responsible for the Overseas Territories, Chris Bryant; Her Majesty the Queen and other notables. In this letter Malcolm asked for confirmation that Lord Michael Ashcroft, a British Conservative Party luminary and major contributor, would not interfere in the TCI if the Conservatives prevail in the forthcoming British election. There has been no public response to the letter. Malcolm, who over the years has been active in both political parties, walked away from his most recent affiliation with the PDM when he was unable to obtain any support in a bid for leadership at the PDM’s June 2008 convention. Malcolm is a regular contributor to the TCI Journal webblog and he has identified himself as an editor. This site has been critical of both political parties as well as Lord Ashcroft since its appearance online a little over two years ago Those watching political events unfold in Britain are predicting the Conservative Party will overturn the Labour government, which has been headed in recent years by former prime minister Tony Blair and current prime minister Gordon Brown. There appears to be a large number of Labour parliamentary members who may resign and not try for re-election.   Reads : 310 Back... Comments: No comments on this topic yet. Be the first one to submit a comment. Back... Send us your comments!   Send us your comments on this article for publication in our Readers' Forum or as a Letter to the Editor. All fields are required and in the interest of openness and transparency we will no longer accept anonymous submissions. We therefore request that all submissions include a name for publication, regardless of content. 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