JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Behaviour Council worried about change in tone of campaigning

by

74 days ago
20250426
Dr Bishnu Ragoonath

Dr Bishnu Ragoonath

With just three days to go be­fore the Gen­er­al Elec­tion, the Coun­cil for Re­spon­si­ble Po­lit­i­cal Be­hav­iour has flagged a spike in se­ri­ous breach­es of the Code of Eth­i­cal Po­lit­i­cal Con­duct, rais­ing con­cerns about the tone and tac­tics emerg­ing in the fi­nal days of the cam­paign.

The coun­cil, led by Dr Bish­nu Ra­goonath, said yes­ter­day that it had re­ceived sev­er­al com­plaints in the past week, many of which were up­held af­ter re­view. These in­clude the use of racial­ly charged and deroga­to­ry lan­guage, char­ac­ter at­tacks, ex­ces­sive neg­a­tive cam­paign­ing, and the re­moval or de­face­ment of op­po­nents’ cam­paign ma­te­ri­als.

On Thurs­day, PNM Diego Mar­tin North East can­di­date Colm Im­bert post­ed a video on X (for­mer­ly Twit­ter) show­ing a man rip­ping down one of his bill­boards.

Par­tic­u­lar­ly trou­bling, ac­cord­ing to the coun­cil, were re­ports of racial slurs at po­lit­i­cal ral­lies and the al­leged mis­use of state re­sources for cam­paign­ing—both of which are clear vi­o­la­tions of the code.

On the im­prop­er use of state re­sources for po­lit­i­cal cam­paigns, the coun­cil not­ed that Clause 13 of the code of con­duct ad­dress­es this is­sue di­rect­ly, af­firm­ing par­ties and can­di­dates shall “not per­mit the use and abuse of State re­sources for po­lit­i­cal cam­paigns.”

The coun­cil’s lat­est state­ment fol­lows weeks of mount­ing ten­sion on the cam­paign trail. Ear­li­er this month, a po­lit­i­cal ral­ly in San Fer­nan­do drew crit­i­cism af­ter in­flam­ma­to­ry re­marks were made about a ri­val can­di­date’s eth­nic back­ground, prompt­ing pub­lic back­lash and calls for a for­mal apol­o­gy. Dozens of posters be­long­ing to mul­ti­ple par­ties were al­so re­port­ed torn down overnight in key bat­tle­ground con­stituen­cies, in­clud­ing Tu­na­puna and Moru­ga/Table­land.

In March, the coun­cil cau­tioned po­lit­i­cal par­ties against stag­ing dis­rup­tive mo­tor­cades, which it said had led to al­ter­ca­tions be­tween ri­val sup­port­ers. While no wide­spread vi­o­lence has been re­port­ed, the coun­cil not­ed that these re­cur­ring in­ci­dents un­der­mine pub­lic trust in the elec­toral process and threat­en the peace­ful na­ture of de­mo­c­ra­t­ic en­gage­ment.

De­spite ac­knowl­edg­ing that the cam­paign has been “large­ly peace­ful,” the coun­cil em­pha­sised that eth­i­cal stan­dards must be up­held dur­ing the fi­nal stretch.

“We call on all par­ties and can­di­dates to up­hold the Con­sti­tu­tion and the law, and to con­duct them­selves in a man­ner that en­cour­ages peace, re­spect, and na­tion­al uni­ty,” the state­ment read.

The coun­cil re­it­er­at­ed its call to avoid vote-buy­ing, defama­tion, dis­crim­i­na­tion, in­tim­i­da­tion near polling sta­tions, and any con­duct that could pro­voke un­rest.

It al­so urged re­straint in post-elec­tion cel­e­bra­tions, re­mind­ing po­lit­i­cal ac­tors that Trinidad and To­ba­go re­mains a shared space for all cit­i­zens.

“Let us be guid­ed by the words of our Na­tion­al An­them: ‘Here every creed and race find an equal place,’” the coun­cil con­clud­ed.

2025 General Election


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

KERWIN PIERRE

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

KERWIN PIERRE

Ringmasters of the Road: Crowds flock to Tribe’s circus-themed band launch

Yesterday
Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Scotiabank Foundation, United Way donate steelpans

Yesterday
The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

Jaggasar returns as National Parang president

2 days ago
Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Jamaican Maroons celebrate, question land rights

2 days ago