Antigua & Barbuda, Grenada vote in referendum to replace Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice

Voters in Antigua & Barbuda as well as Grenada are casting ballots today to decide whether or not to replace the London-based Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as both countries final court.

Antigua & Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne has urged citizens to exercise their franchise and said he is pleased he had done all he could to ensure that nationals were in a position to make a reasonable judgement on the issue.

Antigua & Barbuda would need a two-thirds majority of those casting ballots to ensure that the Privy Council is replaced by the CCJ, which also serves as an international tribunal interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that governs the 15-member regional integration movement, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Only Barbados, Belize, Dominica and Guyana are full members of the CCJ that was established in 2001 even though the majority of the CARICOM countries are signatories to the Court’s Original Jurisdiction.

“I have discharged my responsibility to make the option of transitioning from the Privy Council to the Caribbean Court of Justice available to the people of Antigua & Barbuda. I think it is a great opportunity for them.

“I urge them to go out and vote ‘yes’ and in any event whatever the decision I will be guided accordingly, but as far as I am concerned I have delivered in the responsibility to make this very important option available to the people of Antigua & Barbuda,” Browne said.

The main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) has said it is not supportive of the move to replace the Privy Council and has urged supporters to vote their conscience.

This is the 2nd time within a 2 year period that Grenadians are going through the process.

Two years ago, they narrowly rejected the bill that would have allowed the island-nation to sign on to the CCJ.

While Grenada’s main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is urging supporters to vote against the measure, Prime Minister Keith Mitchell in a radio and television broadcast said that support for the CCJ would cement Grenada’s political independence from Britain, which it attained in 1979.

The polling stations close at 5:00 pm (local time). -(CMC)