The Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) statistics have shown that for the previous local government elections in 2003 and 2010 low voter turnouts were registered.With the introduction of a third party, the Independent Liberal Party (ILP) contesting the elections tomorrow it is uncertain whether the voting pattern and demographics will change.The EBC results showed that the turnout for the elections in 2003 was 38 per cent.
Of the 998,787 people registered as voters in 2010, only 386,830 people exercised their right to vote, a mere 38.7 per cent turnout.The Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation has the highest voting population in 2013, with 168,339 people.According to the EBC, 2,080 presiding officers will be on duty at the 2,080 polling stations and 1,449 polling divisions.
More than 2,080 ballot boxes will be used for the polls because of merged polling stations, and 28 kegs of electoral ink are in storage for deployment and a fresh batch was made for the elections.There will be one police officer stationed at each of the 2,080 polling stations. The EBC did not say how many workers the commission had trained for the local elections. Results will be announced officially by the EBC on Tuesday at 12 noon.
Candidates contesting
Candidates fielded by the various political parties contesting the local government elections tomorrow:
The People's National Movement (PNM) nominated 136; the Independent Liberal Party (ILP) nominated 135; the People's Partnership comprising the United National Congress (UNC), the Congress of the People (COP) and the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) nominated 136 candidates; and the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) nominated 16.