Gail Alexan­der

Se­nior Po­lit­i­cal Re­porter

Em­ploy­ers have been re­mind­ed to al­low staff two hours off for vot­ing in Mon­day’s Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment elec­tion in ac­cor­dance with pro­vi­sions of the law. The Elec­tions and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion (EBC) drew at­ten­tion to the re­quire­ment yes­ter­day, as spe­cial vot­ing con­tin­ued for the Au­gust 14 poll.

The EBC said the pro­vi­sion for time-off for em­ploy­ees stip­u­lat­ed in the Rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the Peo­ple Act (2:01) Elec­tion Rule 28 states that em­ploy­ers shall per­mit each elec­tor in their em­ploy­ment to be ab­sent from work on polling day dur­ing the hours of the elec­tion, in ad­di­tion to the nor­mal mid­day meal hour.

In ad­di­tion, Sec­tion 36 (1) al­so states that no de­duc­tion from their pay or oth­er re­mu­ner­a­tion or any oth­er penal­ty shall be im­posed on elec­tors. Em­ploy­ers who fail to com­ply and any per­son who di­rect­ly or in­di­rect­ly, by in­tim­i­da­tion, un­due in­flu­ence or any oth­er way, in­ter­feres with the grant­i­ng of the pre­scribed pe­ri­od for vot­ing is li­able to a $30,000 fine or one year in jail, ac­cord­ing to Sec­tion 93.

Fi­nal out­reach by PNM, UNC

In the fi­nal days of cam­paign­ing, the ten par­ties and six In­de­pen­dents con­test­ing the poll con­tin­ued to hold cot­tage meet­ing and out­reach­es to vot­ers in key ar­eas.

Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley was sched­uled to speak last night at a “Con­ver­sa­tions with the Prime Min­is­ter” in San­gre Grande, an elec­tion bat­tle­ground dis­trict. The UNC cur­rent­ly con­trols the San­gre Grande Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion.

Yes­ter­day, UNC front­lin­er Jack Warn­er did a walk­a­bout in San­gre Grande. Warn­er and the UNC will be at a meet­ing in Ari­ma to­mor­row.

Al­so to­mor­row, Row­ley speaks at an­oth­er “Con­ver­sa­tions with the Prime Min­is­ter” in Diego Mar­tin, where the UNC’s ac­com­mo­da­tion with the NTA is chal­leng­ing the PNM’s con­trol of the Diego Mar­tin Bor­ough Cor­po­ra­tion. The NTA’s lead­er­ship has filed a law­suit against Row­ley for al­leged re­marks at a St Joseph meet­ing, of­fi­cials said.

Among per­son­al­i­ties be­ing ob­served in the elec­tion race are:

• ↓Ex-UNC coun­cil­lor Mar­cus Gird­har­rie, who is con­test­ing Mara­bel­la South/Vista­bel­la for the PNM against the UNC’s Sasha Ali

• ↓Ex-UNC coun­cil­lor Shel­don “Fish” Gar­cia con­test­ing Ari­ma Cen­tral for the PNM against the UNC’s Nigel Moses.

• ↓UNC’s Kam­la Pha­goo vy­ing against the PNM’s Ali­cia Ali for the Kel­ly Vil­lage/War­renville seat cur­rent­ly held by for­mer coun­cil­lor Samuel Sankar, who left the UNC and at­tend­ed PNM meet­ings.

• ↓UNC’s Shane Sam­lal seek­ing to win the his­tor­i­cal­ly mar­gin­al Co­coyea-Tarou­ba seat from PNM’s Tere­sa Lynch, who won it by 30 votes in 2019.

• ↓UNC’s John Michael Al­i­bo­cas seek­ing Mara­bel­la West from PNM’s Jameela Mar­ryshaw, whose moth­er served there.

• ↓Ex-UNC mem­ber Safraz Ali con­test­ing El So­cor­ro/Aranguez North for the PDP against UNC and PNM can­di­dates.

• ↓In­de­pen­dent Kendell Ha­gley con­test­ing against PNM and UNC can­di­dates in the­Ma­yaro South-Guayagua­yare seat.

• ↓PEP, PNM and UNC can­di­dates con­test­ing the new Ma­yaro North seat

• ↓UNC’s Vanes­sa Kussie seek­ing the new Cou­va West/Roys­to­nia seat against PNM’s Lynise Bur­nette-Pack­ett in the UNC-con­trolled Cou­va/Tabaquite/Tal­paro Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion.

• ↓In­de­pen­dent, PNM, PEP, NTA and MSJ can­di­dates in Hol­ly­wood, Point Fortin.

• ↓PDP, UNC, PNM and PEP can­di­dates for Ben Lomond/Hard­bar­gain/Williamsville.

• ↓NTA’s Rus­sel Chan against PNM’s Mar­cia Marselin in Pe­tit Val­ley/Co­corite.

• ↓New Na­tion­al Vi­sion (NNV) founder Fuad Abu Bakr, who is the PDP’s Bel­mont North and West can­di­date against PNM and UNC can­di­dates in the PNM con­trolled area.