Akash Sama­roo

Se­nior Re­porter

akash.sama­roo@cnc3.co.tt

The de­ci­sion by the Elec­tions and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion (EBC) to go back to the polls in the Lengua/In­di­an Walk dis­trict has drawn an an­gry re­sponse from Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar. She has ac­cused the EBC of bias and in­com­pe­tence and said she and her lawyers are not pre­pared to sim­ply ac­cept the de­ci­sion.

In a re­lease yes­ter­day, the EBC said his­to­ry will be made af­ter the sec­ond Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Elec­tions re­count in the Princes Town dis­trict end­ed in an­oth­er tie, with each can­di­date get­ting 1,428 votes.

“The re­turn­ing of­fi­cer for this elec­toral dis­trict has de­clared the elec­tion void, pur­suant to this cer­ti­fi­ca­tion by the Chief Elec­tion Of­fi­cer, mak­ing way for fresh elec­tions,” the EBC said.

There was no men­tion of the con­tentious re­ject­ed bal­lot that the UNC sought to le­git­imise, which would have giv­en them vic­to­ry.

In the first re­count which be­gan on Tues­day, con­cerns were al­leged­ly raised by agents of the UNC about one vote for the par­ty which was re­ject­ed, as it was not ini­tialled by the deputy pre­sid­ing of­fi­cer dur­ing last Mon­day’s LGE. On Fri­day, the par­ty, through its gen­er­al sec­re­tary Pe­ter Kan­hai, warned that it will con­sid­er le­gal ac­tion if that bal­lot is not recog­nised as a valid vote. Kan­hai said the UNC should not be pun­ished for what ap­peared to be an ad­min­is­tra­tive er­ror on the EBC’s part.

In re­sponse to the UNC via a let­ter, Chief Elec­tions Of­fi­cer Fern Nar­cis-Scope said: “My in­ves­ti­ga­tions re­veal that at the polling sta­tion, the pre­sid­ing of­fi­cer re­ject­ed the bal­lot, as it did not bear her ini­tials and her de­ci­sion was not ques­tioned by any can­di­date of his agent.”

Nar­cis-Scope added that in the first re­count, “no can­di­date or his agent dis­agreed with the de­ci­sion of the re­turn­ing of­fi­cer re­gard­ing the bal­lot.” There­fore, she said, Elec­tion Rule 101 (15) ap­plies, which states: “Where the re­count re­sults in an equal­i­ty of votes be­tween or among the can­di­dates ob­tain­ing the most votes the Chief Elec­tion Of­fi­cer shall so cer­ti­fy to the re­turn­ing of­fi­cer who shall de­clare the elec­tion void and a new elec­tion shall, as soon as pos­si­ble, be held in ac­cor­dance with these rules.”

How­ev­er, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said the EBC is not be­ing truth­ful.

“Our elec­tion team at all stages of the count had in­sist­ed that a par­tic­u­lar bal­lot which was cast for the UNC should be count­ed. In­stead, that bal­lot was re­ject­ed by the pre­sid­ing of­fi­cer on the first count, by the re­turn­ing of­fi­cer on the re­count and again by the as­sis­tant Chief Elec­tion Of­fi­cer on the fi­nal count,” Per­sad-Bisses­sar said.

“Our team had in­sist­ed that the de­ci­sions at each count to re­ject the bal­lot be ques­tioned. In­stead, we were told by the re­turn­ing of­fi­cer to put our con­cerns in writ­ing—a course not con­tem­plat­ed by the law. There was a com­plete re­fusal to mark “Q” on the bal­lot as ques­tioned, and so at the fi­nal count, the As­sis­tant Chief Elec­tion Of­fi­cer treat­ed the bal­lot as re­ject­ed with­out ques­tion.”

The let­ter “Q” is marked on the back of any bal­lots which can­di­dates or their agents ob­ject to or raise con­cerns with, she not­ed.

The Op­po­si­tion Leader said she is amazed that the EBC should now try to “cov­er up the in­com­pe­tence and bias of its of­fi­cers by of­fer­ing such a des­per­ate rea­son”. Per­sad-Bisses­sar said it is al­so in­ter­est­ing that the EBC did not try to rec­ti­fy its ad­min­is­tra­tive er­ror.

“Sim­ply put, the EBC wants us to be­lieve that a vote for the UNC was re­ject­ed with no ob­jec­tions from us by a pre­sid­ing of­fi­cer, and again at the re­count by a re­turn­ing of­fi­cer, with­out any one of them do­ing their du­ty to ini­tial the bal­lot—since the law al­lows it to be ini­tialled at the count if there was an omis­sion,” she said.

“The UNC is re­ceiv­ing the ad­vice of its lawyers. One vote counts and the UNC will stand up to the EBC and the PNM to en­sure that our elec­toral ma­chin­ery is not abused by those wish­ing to serve their po­lit­i­cal mas­ters,” the UNC leader warned.