Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Table of Contents:

• General Right to Vote
• Exclusion or Potential Exclusion Based on Disability
• Assistive Tools and Policies
• Candidacy or Holding Office

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Section 5, subsection 1 states:
Subject to the provisions of this Act or of any written law imposing any disqualification for registration as a voter, every person, who has attained the age of eighteen years or upwards, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter in a constituency for the purpose of electing a representative for that constituency if, on the qualifying date he -

• (a) is a citizen of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; or
• (b) is a Commonwealth citizen who has been residing in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines for a period of not less than twelve months immediately preceding the qualifying date, and in either case has resided in that constituency for a period of not less than six months immediately preceding the qualifying date…

 

Excerpt from the Representation of the People Act (1982)

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Section 6 states:

A person is disqualified from being registered as a voter and shall not be so registered if he:

• (a) is a person found or declared to be a person of unsound mind or a patient in any establishment maintained wholly or mainly for the reception and treatment of persons suffering from mental illness or mental defectiveness by virtue of any enactment…

 

Section 27, subsection 2 states:
If at any time between the issue of a writ and the declaration of the result of the election the returning officer dies or becomes incapable of performing his functions as such, the election clerk where only one such clerk has been appointed or the senior election clerk where more than one such clerk has been appointed shall forthwith report the fact to the Supervisor of Elections and shall perform the functions of the returning officer until some other returning officer is appointed or the returning officer ceases to be incapable of performing his functions, as the case may be.

 

Section 28, subsection 3 states:

If the presiding officer dies or becomes incapable of performing his functions during the taking of the poll, the poll clerk where only one such clerk has been appointed or the senior poll clerk where more than one such clerk has been appointed shall report the fact to the Supervisor of Elections and shall, until some other person is appointed as presiding officer by the Supervisor of Elections, perform the functions of the presiding officer and may appoint some other person to act as poll clerk.

 

Section 35, subsection 1 states:

No person shall be qualified to be elected or appointed as a representative or senator…if he…

• (f) is a person certified to be insane or otherwise adjudged to be of unsound mind under any law…

 

Section 67, subsection 3 states:

Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) and (2), regulations made with respect to the matters therein mentioned may contain provisions --…

• (d) as to the evidence which shall or may be required or deemed sufficient or conclusive to show that a person is subject to any physical incapacity and as to its probable duration…

 

Excerpts from the Representation of the People Act (1982)

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Section 40 states:

Any election officer who -… has reasonable cause to believe to be false, or does not believe to be true;

• (b) permits any person whom he knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, not to be a blind person or an incapacitated person, to vote in a manner provided for blind persons or incapacitated persons, as the case may be;
• (c) refuses to permit any person whom he knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, to be a blind person or an incapacitated person to vote in the manner provided for blind persons or incapacitated persons, as the case may be;… is guilty of an offence and liable, on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for two years.

 

Excerpt from the Representation of the People Act (1982)

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Section 27, subsection 2 states:

If at any time between the issue of a writ and the declaration of the result of the election the returning officer dies or becomes incapable of performing his functions as such, the election clerk where only one such clerk has been appointed or the senior election clerk where more than one such clerk has been appointed shall forthwith report the fact to the Supervisor of Elections and shall perform the functions of the returning officer until some other returning officer is appointed or the returning officer ceases to be incapable of performing his functions, as the case may be.

 

Section 28, subsection 3 states:

If the presiding officer dies or becomes incapable of performing his functions during the taking of the poll, the poll clerk where only one such clerk has been appointed or the senior poll clerk where more than one such clerk has been appointed shall report the fact to the Supervisor of Elections and shall, until some other person is appointed as presiding officer by the Supervisor of Elections, perform the functions of the presiding officer and may appoint some other person to act as poll clerk.

 

Excerpts from the Representation of the People Act (1982)