The Seychelles Electoral Commission has indicated that a supplementary list of voters will be prepared for the upcoming elections to be held from December 3 to 5, 2015, so as not to disenfranchise 44 Seychellois voters due to some anomalies found on the certified Register of Voters that will be used for the elections. The Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Hendrick Gappy said this during a press interview late this evening after meeting with members of the political parties; the presidential candidates themselves or their representatives to discuss the matter. The urgent meeting to discuss the preparation of a supplementary list came after the Seychelles Supreme Court dismissed a case brought by the Electoral Commission asking for the voters register to be re-opened to accommodate “clerical errors and oversights” discovered after the closure of the register.
In dismissing the Electoral Commissioner’s petition, the Chief Justice of the Seychelles Supreme Court, Mathilda Twomey said there is no provisions in the elections act, any other act or the constitution permitting the re-opening of the register once it is closed after election dates are announced and that there are equally no provisions for a supplementary list of voters in the Seychelles laws.
In her ruling, Twomey adds that while on one hand refusing the re-opening of the register for the rectifications to be made can disenfranchise the [44 voters], allowing it on the other hand, “opens the floodgates to other potential changes and seriously undermines the finality and certainty of the Register of Voters prior to the elections.”
“There is however one avenue still open… even at this late hour, that is, to seek the indulgence of the presidential candidates in agreeing a supplemental list of electors but this Court will not be part of such an agreement,” added Twomey as she dismissed the Electoral Commissioner’s petition.