RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

In­di­vid­u­als in quar­an­tine will be able to file their bal­lots come the Au­gust 10 gen­er­al elec­tions. And Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress Princes Town can­di­date Bar­ry Padarath will be al­lowed to file his nom­i­na­tions via an elec­tion agent while he spends 14-days in quar­an­tine.

This was con­firmed on Sun­day by Chief Elec­tions Of­fi­cer of the Elec­tions and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion­er Fern Nar­cis-Scope, who said the Rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the Peo­ple Act al­lows Padarath to ap­ply to have an elec­tion agent file nom­i­na­tion pa­pers on his be­half.

“There is a pro­vi­sion in the leg­is­la­tion for the fil­ing of nom­i­na­tion pa­pers by an elec­tion agent. Padarath has no is­sue, his pa­pers can be filed quite ad­e­quate­ly on his be­half,” Nar­cis-Scope said.

She al­so re­vealed that any­one who is in quar­an­tine will not be dis­en­fran­chised.

“We have ad­vised the CMO that it is our in­ten­tion to al­low peo­ple who are in quar­an­tine the op­por­tu­ni­ty to vote. They will be treat­ed as spe­cial elec­tors and will be tak­en care of in ac­cor­dance with the leg­is­la­tion that speaks to the sit­u­a­tion for spe­cial elec­tors,” Nar­cis-Scope said.

She added, “Per­sons who are in quar­an­tine will be asked to ap­ply to be treat­ed as a spe­cial elec­tor and there­after arrange­ments will be made for a spe­cial polling sta­tion to be set up in that quar­an­tine fa­cil­i­ty dur­ing the pe­ri­od for spe­cial vot­ing so these peo­ple in quar­an­tine can vote.”

She not­ed that these spe­cial vot­ers will vote in ad­vance of the Au­gust 10 elec­tion day.

“Ap­pli­ca­tions will be made avail­able to these in­di­vid­u­als when the time comes. All of these things can be found in the leg­is­la­tion,” she said.

Con­tact­ed via Face­book, Padarath con­firmed he was re­turn­ing home on Wednes­day from the Unit­ed States hav­ing been giv­en an ex­emp­tion from the Min­istry of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty. He once he will un­der­go a 14-day quar­an­tine which will end on Ju­ly 22.

Padarath did not con­firm he had been cho­sen as the Princes Town can­di­date at the time but said, “Should I be the can­di­date I can ap­point an elec­tion agent who can file the nom­i­na­tion I am ad­vised,” he said.