Basseterre, St. Kitts, 30th July, 2022 (SKNIS): A seven-member CARICOM election observer team is scheduled to arrive in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis from Monday, August 1, 2022, to observe the Federal elections which take place on August 5, 2022.
The CARICOM team will be led by Mr. Sase Gunraj of Guyana, the Chief of Mission. The team will comprise observers from Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Jamaica, Suriname and Haiti.
Election observation/monitoring is a practice undertaken by an independent body that assesses the standards and therefore legitimacy of an election. It is important to note that observers do not intervene during an election, instead, they produce reports which are circulated to national governments and their related departments as well as being made publicly available displaying the issues found alongside recommendations for the future. All of the activities are approached from a completely non-partisan perspective, and observation focuses on the electoral strengths and weaknesses rather than being concerned with the political outcome of any particular vote. This allows observation organizations a degree of legitimacy in assessing an election which could not be gained from a national government which could have an inherent bias.