Observers from afar

POLLING stations across the country will be the main focus of international observers invited to monitor Election Day 2012.

In an April 4 letter to Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes, Organisation of American States chief Jose Miguel Insulza confirmed he has instructed the relevant department to prepare a budget proposal for the monitoring mission.

Mr Insulza said the observers will employ a strategy that "maximises coverage of the polling stations on the date of the elections".

He added: "As is customary, the size and scope of this mission will ultimately depend on the voluntary contributions received from the OAS member and observer states."

Where's Perry?

PLP voters have been asking why so few campaign posters bearing Perry Christie's image have appeared about town.

Earlier this week, an inside source claimed the opposition did not want to make Mr Christie a prominent feature of the campaign for fear of turning the election into a contest between leaders - a fight most believe Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham will win every time.

However, PLP officials yesterday strongly denied there is any lack of confidence in the popularity of their leader. They explained that most of the Christie flyers were part of a shipment of paraphernalia held up at customs for inspection.

It is not known if the ongoing customs strike is making it even harder for Mr Christie to hit the streets.

Prayer warriors

A GROUP attached to the FNM's Killarney campaign, known as the Killarney Prayer Warriors, urged all religiously-minded citizens to pray for a righteous election result.

The group issued a mass email calling on anyone who believes in the power of prayer "to join us by praying three times a day and fasting every Wednesday until May 7".

The email said every prayer should ask that men and women who know God, and the candidate of God's choosing, will be elected in every constituency."

They were also asked to pray that "God's Spirit will overshadow" every voter, and make them choose in accordance with Divine Will.

"Those praying," the email added, should pray that God will "energize and empower his people to call out to him day and night in extraordinary prayer during this season."

Backing for Bran

FORMER FNM Cabinet minister Pierre Dupuch issued a letter to the press yesterday claiming the government's Marital Rape Bill is nothing but a ploy for votes.

Claiming a law banning rape within a marriage would be unenforceable, Mr Dupuch said his "very high regard for women", and belief in their right to equality, led him to speak out on the issue.

According to Mr Dupuch, if the Bill becomes law, any husband accused of marital rape in the Bahamas will simply hire a lawyer to put his wife in the witness box and humiliate her, making her "feel less than a woman, and dirty".

"And what would the verdict be? Innocent. What would the after effects be? Disastrous for the wife," Mr Dupuch wrote.

Supporting DNA leader Branville McCartney's similar rejection of the Bill, Mr Dupuch wrote: "...the Marital Rape Bill will stir up emotions sufficiently to get some votes, won't it? Do the people pushing this Bill really care about women? I do. And I suspect Bran McCartney does also."