As cit­i­zens head to the polls to­day, the Pres­by­ter­ian Church of Trinidad and To­ba­go is pray­ing that the process is peace­ful and crime-free.

In a state­ment, the PCTT, while urg­ing all el­i­gi­ble cit­i­zens to vote, al­so asked them to se­lect a gov­ern­ment com­mit­ted to na­tion-build­ing and the best in­ter­ests of the peo­ple.

List­ing some of the qual­i­ties they ought to con­sid­er in a gov­ern­ment, the PCTT point­ed to the pro­mo­tion of sus­tain­able eco­nom­ic growth, peo­ple-cen­tric gov­er­nance, a se­cure and sta­ble so­ci­ety, in­vest­ments in crit­i­cal sec­tors and progress to­ward first-world sta­tus.

The Elec­tion and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion has con­firmed there are more than one mil­lion el­i­gi­ble vot­ers and 161 can­di­dates.

The PCTT is ap­peal­ing for re­spect for the elec­toral process and ac­cep­tance of the re­sults with ma­tu­ri­ty and pa­tri­o­tism.

Urg­ing cit­i­zens to com­ply with in­struc­tions from elec­toral of­fi­cials and se­cu­ri­ty per­son­nel to en­sure or­der, the PCTT al­so prayed for a peace­ful and crime-free day.

Mean­while, some can­di­dates vy­ing for seats in the elec­tion to­day, turned to prayer yes­ter­day.

An in­ter­faith ser­vice was held for Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress San Fer­nan­do West can­di­date Michael Dowlath at Omardeen’s Au­di­to­ri­um in San Fer­nan­do. 

Pray­ing for peace and God’s pro­tec­tion in the San Fer­nan­do West Con­stituen­cy, and the na­tion as a whole,  dur­ing the elec­tion to­day, Pas­tor Vic­tor Jog­gie said, “Fa­ther we lift up the Gen­er­al Elec­tion,” adding, “God, we look to you oh God, even as we get ready to move with a Gen­er­al Elec­tion that you will guide our steps, guide our hearts, guide our faith.” 

Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment San Fer­nan­do West can­di­date Faris Al-Rawi a lot of prayer was in­volved through­out the day, yes­ter­day.

“That’s part of what we do. So to­day our ma­chin­ery has been at work, our sub-of­fices, our po­si­tions, and every time we vis­it, we pray, lit­er­al­ly. That’s a stan­dard prac­tice. I just left a meet­ing with some young peo­ple from the church com­mu­ni­ty and we lit­er­al­ly said a prayer again. It’s, you know, the great­est gift some­body can give you is a re­flec­tion that God is with you and for your ac­knowl­edge­ment that he is there. So it’s been a good day.”

Al­so of­fer­ing prayers were Pun­dit Rudranath Ma­haraj, Wa­heed Ma­jid, pres­i­dent of the San Fer­nan­do Ja­ma Mosque and Pres­by­ter­ian Rev Keron Khellawan.

In a mes­sage ahead of the elec­tions, Arch­bish­op Charles Ja­son Gor­don, in a state­ment last Wedne­day, re­mind­ed the pop­u­la­tion of their “ sa­cred re­spon­si­bil­i­ty” to vote.

He said, “This is not on­ly a civic du­ty—it is a spir­i­tu­al act, a mo­ment of con­science where each voice helps shape the fu­ture of our coun­try.” Urg­ing the elec­torate to vote with dis­cern­ment, he ad­vised, “Re­flect prayer­ful­ly. Ask not just what ben­e­fits us per­son­al­ly, but what serves the com­mon good. Con­sid­er the char­ac­ter and in­tegri­ty of those who seek to lead.” 

He prayed for a peace­ful elec­tion, and for wis­dom, uni­ty, and courage in every heart. 

“Let us speak with grace, lis­ten with com­pas­sion, and act with hope,” said Arch­bish­op Gor­don, who added, “Above all, let your vote count—not just as a mark on a bal­lot, but as a sign of your love for this land and your hope for its peo­ple. May God bless our na­tion and guide us in this time.”