SHAR­LENE RAM­PER­SAD

Po­lit­i­cal ac­tivist and for­mer Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) Sen­a­tor, De­vant Ma­haraj, has thrown his hat in­to the ring for the par­ty's up­com­ing in­ter­nal elec­tion.

In a let­ter to UNC chair­man, Pe­ter Kan­hai, Ma­haraj ex­pressed his in­ter­est in con­test­ing the par­ty's in­ter­nal elec­tions, which he says are now con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly due.

He said the last in­ter­nal elec­tion the par­ty held was in 2017, mean­ing that elec­tions to ap­point a po­lit­i­cal leader and a Na­tion­al Ex­ec­u­tive are now both due.

But Ma­haraj, who has led a cam­paign against the cur­rent Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar SC MP, since the par­ty's de­feat at the Au­gust 10th na­tion­al elec­tion, says he has mul­ti­ple con­cerns about the elec­tion.

The po­lit­i­cal ac­tivist not­ed the on­go­ing COVID-19 pan­dem­ic would re­quire spe­cial pro­vi­sions be put in place be­fore an elec­tion is called, as he said the cam­paign­ing for the Gen­er­al Elec­tion caused a spike in com­mu­ni­ty spread of the virus.

"In­deed, one would hate to think that an ob­ses­sion with re­main­ing in pow­er might lead to a hasti­ly called elec­tion with­out en­sur­ing prop­er arrange­ments are in place to stop the spread of COVID-19," Ma­haraj said.  “This is es­pe­cial­ly im­por­tant giv­en the con­text of the Pub­lic Health Reg­u­la­tions, which may lim­it the num­ber of per­sons in polling sta­tions to the detri­ment of the elec­toral process.

He added: “I al­so re­spect­ful­ly sug­gest that con­sul­ta­tions be held with the Min­istry of Health and the Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice to en­sure com­pli­ance with the pre­vail­ing health reg­u­la­tions that may be in force at that time.”

Ma­haraj said giv­en the UNC's crit­i­cisms of the Elec­tions and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion (EBC) fol­low­ing the Au­gust 10th polls, he be­lieves the par­ty should have in­de­pen­dent ob­servers for its in­ter­nal elec­tion.

He has asked par­ty chair­man Pe­ter Kan­hai to pro­vide in­for­ma­tion on the pro­posed dates for the elec­tion, dead­lines for nom­i­na­tion, a mem­ber­ship list for those con­test­ing the elec­tion, the for­ma­tion of an elec­tions com­mit­tee and a list of mea­sures that will be tak­en to mit­i­gate against con­flicts of in­ter­est from mem­bers of the Na­tion­al Ex­ec­u­tive who al­so hold po­si­tions as Mem­bers of Par­lia­ment.

Ma­haraj has asked Kan­hai to re­spond with­in sev­en days.