Minister Diallo Rabain reaffirms willingness to collaborate with OBA on Government’s voting reform after the OBA’s bill was dropped
Both of the main political parties have lauded the necessity of bringing about absentee voting – but they both appear to want to it done ‘their’ way.
Arguably, since the PLP is the Government, they get to ‘pull rank’.
This is one way of looking at the back-and-forth that has taken place over the last few months.
The Opposition OBA tabled their absentee voting bill in late September 2025, with MP Dwayne Robinson inviting Government to submit amendments.
Government maintained that the bill was “not workable” – a claim that the OBA rejected.
Diallo Rabain, Minister for the Cabinet Office & Digital Innovation, invited the OBA to talk about their bill and the overall matter of absentee voting, while expecting them to withdraw the bill. MP Robinson has said that the OBA were open to talks, but not at the cost of withdrawing the bill.
In December, the OBA’s absentee voting bill was pulled from the order paper before it could be debated. The reason given is that it would have required finances to be directed towards its implementation, and the Opposition cannot drive such decisions.
MP Robinson called it “political mischief” that the PLP’s was unwilling to collaborate on their bill in the two months since it was tabled.
Government hosted a number of Town Hall discussions on electoral reform in November through January – the final one having taken place last week.
OBA MP Robinson said the Town Halls offered “very little concrete information” on the plan for electoral reform, and “operated more like a brainstorming session with very vague answers”.
Following the final Town Hall session, Minister Rabain said the discussions had brought up some issues they had not considered, and cited the need for a careful approach to absentee voting due to racism in past elections.
Ultimately, he reiterates a willingness to collaborate with the OBA on the PLP Government’s reforms, but says MP Robinson’s comments are “just politics”.
WATCH the interview above…
