Senior Reporter
akash.samaroo@cnc3.co.tt
Even after meeting with the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) for nearly three hours yesterday, United National Congress (UNC) officials refused to say whether they have more confidence in the body. Instead, they issued another call for international observers to oversee the next general election.
Following the meeting at the EBC’s Port-of-Spain head, UNC vice chair Khadijah Ameen said the public and political parties deserve facilities to boost their confidence in one of democracy’s most fundamental procedures.
“We think it’s very important for transparency and for democracy in Trinidad and Tobago to have international observers and so today, we reiterate the call made by the Leader of the Opposition for international observers to come to Trinidad on the occasion of the next lead-up for the next general election,” she said.
Ameen acknowledged it was not within the EBC’s remit to invite observers and directed the request to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
She said: “On previous occasions, the Prime Minister refused to have international observers and he used the excuse of COVID. Even after COVID, he also refused so I don’t think that excuse is valid anymore.
“And now we have to question what is the objection that Keith Rowley has to having international observers in Trinidad? And any person who does not want to be open to scrutiny, we should be suspicious of them.”
Last June, when faced with a similar request from the UNC but for the local government election, Rowley had said, “We are going into a local government election. We’ve had that over and over and over and there’s one due in a few weeks. Some of our colleagues are telling me I must invite foreigners to come and observe our local government election. No! They free to come if they wish, it’s a free country but why are we selling ourselves short?”
Ameen said during yesterday’s meeting, EBC officials said they did not have an issue with international observers monitoring their duties.
“So it seems as if only the Prime Minister has objection to observers,” she said
Ameen also claimed the EBC had acted questionably in the past by extending the voting time for the 2015 general election by one hour due to inclement weather. In 2016, the UNC challenged this decision and High Court judge Mira Dean-Armorer ruled the EBC overstepped its statutory remit but did not invalidate the result of those polls.
Since then, the UNC has been critical of the EBC’s conduct, most recently with its 2024 report which contains significant recommendations, including the renaming of five constituencies and alterations to 16 other constituencies.
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has questioned the integrity of the EBC and its methodology in arriving at those recommendations.
When Ameen was asked if the UNC had more trust and confidence in the EBC after voicing their concerns about the recommendations, she did not give a direct answer.
Other issues raised by the UNC during the meeting included special voting, election day staffing and training, pending by-elections, house-to-house surveys, voter regularisation and registration, registration of Caricom, Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth nationals and additions and deletions to the electoral list.
Ameen said what was discussed would be presented to the party before being made public.
Other UNC officials at the meeting were Dr Tim Gopeesingh, Peter Kanhai, Feroze Khan, Vijai Gosein and Darryl Allahar.