Broadening cricket voting pool a necessity, says new president

Sun, Mar 31, '19

Giving more members of the Caribbean cricket fraternity the opportunity to vote at annual general meetings of Cricket West Indies is among the plans outlined by new Cricket West Indies president Ricardo “Ricky” Skerritt in a recent interview with the Jamaica Observer.

Kittitian Skerritt, who defeated Jamaican Whycliffe Cameron at the annual general meeting in St Andrew last Sunday, polled eight votes to Cameron's four. There were 12 votes available, two each to the six member territories of the Caribbean region — Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, the Leeward Islands, the Windward Islands, Barbados, and Jamaica.

Skerritt, and his running mate, new vice-president Dr Kishore Shallow, were supported in identical voting fashion by the Leeward Islands, Trinidad & Tobago, the Windward Islands, and Jamaica, while Barbados and Guyana felt that Cameron and his vice-presidential candidate Emmanuel Nantan were doing a good job after three terms in charge and should continue.

While he does not yet have a formula going forward to have a broader representation of balloting, Skerritt is adamant that the current system is not the best and is skewed toward the incumbent.

“These are highly technical but urgent matters. From what we have just been through, the campaign process, the lobbying process for votes and the actual implementation of the electoral process,it needs to be revitalised, renewed and improve.