Reports surface that politicians ‘buying votes’ from the vulnerable
Reports have surfaced that political candidates and/or their agents having been paying off persons to vote for them in the 2023 elections.
Shereen Flax-Charles, an incumbent Territorial At-Large Representative who is now the Progressive Virgin Islands Movement’s (PVIM) candidate for the Ninth Electoral District, made that claim while speaking on her party’s Solutions Time radio programme last evening.
She said these so-called vote buyers are targeting the society’s more vulnerable groups.
“Today, I visited a couple of seniors in Virgin Gorda before I came across [to Tortola] and they were very disappointed. So I said, ‘what’s going on?’ [They said] persons are coming and offering us money, what is that about?” Flax-Charles reported at the time.
“I am very disappointed that we’re literally trying to hoodwink our elderly and differently-abled by offering them $40 or $50 to come to the polls and vote for certain candidates. Let’s be real. We have to stop that behaviour,” she added.
The first-term legislator, who is now seeking to unseat her one-time party-mate Vincent Wheatley of the Virgin Islands Party, stressed that the electorate ought to be able to vote for whomever they want without undue influence.
Her claims came hours ahead of Advance Polling Day today where groups such senior citizens and the disabled get the benefit of early voting ahead of the general elections slated for this coming Monday, April 24.
Flax-Charles did not state whether she reported this alleged incident to the relevant authorities such as the Office of the Supervisor of Elections.
She said these so-called vote buyers are targeting the society’s more vulnerable groups.
“Today, I visited a couple of seniors in Virgin Gorda before I came across [to Tortola] and they were very disappointed. So I said, ‘what’s going on?’ [They said] persons are coming and offering us money, what is that about?” Flax-Charles reported at the time.
“I am very disappointed that we’re literally trying to hoodwink our elderly and differently-abled by offering them $40 or $50 to come to the polls and vote for certain candidates. Let’s be real. We have to stop that behaviour,” she added.
The first-term legislator, who is now seeking to unseat her one-time party-mate Vincent Wheatley of the Virgin Islands Party, stressed that the electorate ought to be able to vote for whomever they want without undue influence.
Her claims came hours ahead of Advance Polling Day today where groups such senior citizens and the disabled get the benefit of early voting ahead of the general elections slated for this coming Monday, April 24.
Flax-Charles did not state whether she reported this alleged incident to the relevant authorities such as the Office of the Supervisor of Elections.
