Five British justices in London struck down a move by the government of St Kitts and Nevis to change the islands' electoral boundaries.
The decision came on February 12, days before the country’s general election, which will now be held using the old electoral boundaries.
The privy council remains the final court of appeal for the two-island federation of 55,000 people, which is the smallest country in the Americas. The five justices – Lords Mance, Kerr, Clarke, Reed and Hodge – who heard the case, normally sit in the supreme court at Westminster.
The privy council’s ruling declared: “It is determined and ordered that the list to be used in the ... election is and shall be that existing prior to the proclamation .... purportedly issued and published by the governor general. Any effect which the said proclamation would continue otherwise to have, whether in relation to any other election or otherwise, is hereby suspended until further order.”
The Labour party government had introduced the electoral constituencies by proclamation on 16 January, exactly a month before the scheduled vote, the Guardian reported.
The opposition, however, claimed the proclamation was not correctly gazetted; they said the new boundaries would also give government candidates an unfair advantage, and they launched a legal challenge. Local courts dismissed their appeals.