So, what happens to all the time and effort that went into preparing for April 10th? Well, from the Attorney General's perspective, it cannot go to waste.
He told us that it will be very expensive for all concerned to postpone, which is why the Government was fighting so hard to keep the April 10th date. Here's how he explained why:
Michael Peyrefitte
"A lot of preparation has been put into making sure this referendum happens April 10th. A lot of time has been taken away from public servants in order for them to prepare for this referendum. We have all the observers, most of them are already in country. We have everything in place for April 10th to push it back to another date and we will if we have to, but to push this back another date would cause considerable expense and just overall, you know, it would be troublesome to have it beyond April 10th. If we have to, we have to, but it would be very uncomfortable and expensive to extend it some more time. So we are trying to preserve, save some money, save some harassment and have it April 10th if we can."
Reporter
"Has there been considerations given at the highest levels to say you know what let's just listen to what some of the people are saying and lets just postponed 1, 2, 3 months down the line and try to get different things in place?"
Michael Peyrefitte
"The UDP always listens to the people. that's why they are in government - means you listen to the people - our people are telling us that they are ready for a referendum on April 10th. The people have said, even those who may want to vote no have said "I want my chance to vote." So what we are fighting for is for people to have their chance to vote however they want to vote in the referendum. If it has to be pushed back - it has to be pushed back. But there are people who have travelled from abroad to be here for April 10th. People have gone through considerable expense to be here and so they want their opportunity to vote April 10th and I think it would be irresponsible of the government to not fight for the date that it has set and it has made people expect to would be the date that you would have the referendum. We have to fight for April 10th as hard as we can."
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