Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment Gen­er­al Elec­tion cam­paign man­ag­er Ro­han Sinanan has de­fend­ed the Elec­tions and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion (EBC), af­ter the body was crit­i­cised by the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress this week.

The UNC ac­cused the EBC of work­ing with the PNM to rig Mon­day’s 28 polls.

The EBC strong­ly re­ject­ed the al­le­ga­tions by the UNC and al­so those made in a wide­ly cir­cu­lat­ed on­line doc­u­ment, say­ing the claims were “un­found­ed as­ser­tions” that posed a threat to the in­tegri­ty of the elec­toral process. The EBC has al­so re­ferred the on­line doc­u­ment mat­ter to the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia ahead of the PNM’s pub­lic meet­ing at Bournes Road, St James, on Wednes­day, Sinanan ac­cused the UNC of look­ing for ex­cus­es.

“We are the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment, we have faith in the process,” Sinanan ex­plained.

“The EBC has nev­er done any­thing in our opin­ion that gives us any­thing to wor­ry about. How­ev­er, if you know that you are fac­ing de­feat, you must en­sure that there is an ex­cuse so that you don’t have to go back to your peo­ple and say, ‘we did it the wrong way’.”

Sinanan said he was part of a PNM del­e­ga­tion that met with Caribbean Com­mu­ni­ty (Cari­com) ob­servers who are in the coun­try for Mon­day’s elec­tion.

The del­e­ga­tion was led by Prime Min­is­ter Stu­art Young and in­clud­ed PNM gen­er­al sec­re­tary Fos­ter Cum­mings, la­dy vice-chair­man Camille Robin­son-Reg­is and deputy leader Colm Im­bert.

The UNC met with the Cari­com ob­servers on Tues­day, where they ex­pressed their con­cerns with the vis­it­ing del­e­ga­tion.

Sinanan con­firmed he as­sured the ob­servers the elec­tions would not be rigged in favour of any par­ty. 

“We gave our com­mit­ment that the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment, this is not our first time at the elec­tions, and we are con­fi­dent we do have free and fair elec­tions here in Trinidad and To­ba­go,” Sinanan told Guardian Me­dia.