KAY-MARIE FLETCH­ER

Se­nior Re­porter

kay-marie.fletch­er@guardian.co.tt

The Elec­tions and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion (EBC) has dis­missed calls by the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) to re­move its re­turn­ing of­fi­cer for San Fer­nan­do East.

The com­mis­sion has al­so re­fused to ac­cede to the UNC’s re­quest to re­do the ex­er­cise in­volv­ing spe­cial elec­tors’ bal­lot box­es that was con­duct­ed on Mon­day.

In a re­lease last night, the EBC ad­mit­ted that the re­turn­ing of­fi­cer failed to im­me­di­ate­ly seal the bal­lot box af­ter the com­ple­tion of the spe­cial vot­ing ex­er­cise, an is­sue that was high­light­ed by the par­ty’s San Fer­nan­do East cam­paign man­ag­er Wendy Lewis and deputy leader Dr Roodal Mooni­lal on Tues­day.

Lewis and Mooni­lal had called on the EBC to re­move the re­turn­ing of­fi­cer and re-do the en­tire ex­er­cise, call­ing it taint­ed.

How­ev­er, the EBC al­leged that the Op­po­si­tion’s rep­re­sen­ta­tive failed to re­spond when ef­forts were made to con­tact them to rec­ti­fy the sit­u­a­tion.

“While is­su­ing bal­lot pa­pers for des­ig­nat­ed Spe­cial Elec­tors in the San Fer­nan­do East con­stituen­cy, the Re­turn­ing Of­fi­cer ne­glect­ed to im­me­di­ate­ly af­fix a seal to the emp­ty bal­lot box while wit­ness­es for can­di­dates were present. This over­sight was quick­ly iden­ti­fied, and the Re­turn­ing Of­fi­cer prompt­ly con­tact­ed rep­re­sen­ta­tives from the po­lit­i­cal par­ties who had been present dur­ing the dis­tri­b­u­tion process that day,” the EBC said.

“The rep­re­sen­ta­tives in­di­cat­ed they would re­turn. How­ev­er, de­spite nu­mer­ous fol­low-up calls, the rep­re­sen­ta­tive for the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress did not come back to com­plete the pro­ce­dure. As a re­sult, the emp­ty bal­lot box was sealed in the pres­ence of a re­turn­ing wit­ness, two elec­tors, the Re­turn­ing Of­fi­cer, and the Elec­tion Clerk. All nec­es­sary seals were signed and af­fixed to the bal­lot box ac­cord­ing to the re­quired process.”

Mean­while, mem­bers of the Pa­tri­ot­ic Front (PF) have al­so dis­missed claims of wrong­do­ing on the re­turn­ing of­fi­cer’s part.

The UNC claimed the re­turn­ing of­fi­cer act­ed ir­reg­u­lar­ly in the pres­ence of the UNC and Pa­tri­ot­ic Front San Fer­nan­do East cam­paign man­agers.

How­ev­er, PF’s San Fer­nan­do East cam­paign man­ag­er Rick Gill yes­ter­day said the EBC of­fi­cers were sim­ply do­ing their jobs.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia via tele­phone yes­ter­day, Gill said, “The Elec­tions and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion, they have their way of do­ing things and a lot of that needs to change at some point in time. But, I was in the meet­ing and I didn’t see any­thing that I would call a red flag. At this point, I don’t see any need to over­haul the EBC. They are do­ing the job with what they are giv­en. There is noth­ing that was of con­cern of mis­con­duct or any­thing like that.”

When Guardian Me­dia reached out to the of­fi­cer yes­ter­day, he re­fused to speak on the is­sue and hung up the tele­phone mid-con­ver­sa­tion.