AND PAULA LINDO
Members of the Caricom election observer mission hit the ground running when they landed in TT on April 21, immediately meeting with stakeholders and observing the electoral process in the run-up to the general election on April 28.
In an exculsive telephone interview with Newsday on April 23, mission chief Ian Hughes said the team had met with the UNC, the EBC, the Prime Minister, the PNM, the NTA, and civil society groups, and planned to meet with other parties and organisations.
He said the team observed voting at one of the special voters' centres and timed the process. He said the team was satisfied that the EBC was following the regulations so far.
"While we are aware of some challenges with the initial special-voter rollout, in processes like this, there will be one-off instances and the EBC would need to re-visit these issues.
"During the week, we will be watching and listening to the rallies on TV. We will do a dry-run over the weekend in preparation for Monday, and meet to determine how we will deploy, zero-in on logistics. The idea is to adjust to cover as many areas as we possibly can over 12 hours of voting."
Asked what he thought about allegations around voter suppression, Hughes said there were always allegations, and investigating each one meant there would be no time for the team to observe.
He said in the era of social media where everything was recorded, someone making an allegation about bribes without witnesses coming forward or evidence caused credibility issues.
Newsday asked whether the team was aware of or would be informed of what statements were defamatory on political platforms.
"We hope on the campaign trail people will speak truth, say their plans and hopefully not malign other people. Candidates will always try their best to fire up their supporters. We would not know what is truth and what is fiction. That is why we rely on stakeholders to bring these to our attention and then we can do our own research."
The team will be deployed to key marginal constituencies on April 28 as thousands of people cast their ballot for their candidate of choice and pay particular attention to the vote-counting process.
Speaking to media representatives at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre on April 24, Hughes said, “Keeping an eye on the marginals is important.”
“We will visit all of those.”
But Hughes said he was yet to be apprised of which were the marginals and asked media representatives to provide some clarity.
On election day, they will keep an eye on the activities at the polling stations as well as the counting process.
AZP News’s Prior Beharry said there were historical challenges to media having access to timely credible results from the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) and often depend on the political parties for results.
Hughes said that would be noted in their report and that it should come from the EBC.
Media veteran Andy Johnson asked Hughes about two instances which were reported in the media earlier this week, a poll card being sent to the home of a man who had died in 2003 and claims that EBC CEO Fern Narcis-Scope was affiliated with a political party.
Hughes said the poll card coming for someone dead was not irregular as people died all the time.
He added, “The question is whether the deceased gets to vote or not. It is their (the EBC's) duty to ensure that those who are eligible to vote do."
He said the observer team had not received any complaints about the EBC's CEO.
Hughes said the members were assured by acting CoP Junior Benjamin during their meeting that they would be safe while in TT.
Elections in TT, he said, have always been “free and peaceful.”
Hughes, who is supervisor of elections in Antigua and Barbuda, said the team was made up of independent observers and would not be toeing any particular party line. He said they were there to observe and report to the government, the leader of the opposition and the EBC following the election. He said it would be up to those parties to decide whether or not to accept their recommendations.
Hughes confirmed that Caricom observers had been to TT for the 2007, 2010 and 2015 elections. There were no observers in 2020 owing the the covid19 pandemic, he said.
He said the current observer team had years of observation experience and working in the electoral process.
The observers have also been keeping an eye on activities in the lead-up to the election, including what was being said on the campaign trail and how it was reported.
Hughes said, "what we see is platform banter but at the end of the day we get back together and move on."
They will attend the final election rallies hosted by the two main parties, the UNC and PNM, on April 26.
The Caricom observers will be split up into teams of two to visit both Trinidad and Tobago on election day.
Caricom observers who have been on the ground in the region have observed that elections in the Caribbean are free of violence, even in Haiti.
Another member of the team, Felix Gregoire, chairman of Public Service Commission, Commonwealth of Dominica, said “The real test for the observer team is on polling day.”
Observers, he said, tend to bring a sense of calm to the polling process.
The final report will be presented to the EBC and the main political parties within one month of the April election.
A media briefing will be held on April 29 before the team departs TT on April 30.
There are currently two election observer teams in Trinidad, one from Caricom and the other from a Commonwealth observer group.
Both groups accepted the PNM government’s invitation to observe TT’s April 28 general election.
The two teams will operate independently of each other but there will be a social call for members of both groups.
The Caricom mission is fully funded by the Caricom Secretariat, Hughes said.
Caricom observer mission team
The members of the team are: Ian Hughes, supervisor of elections, Antigua and Barbuda (chief of mission); Dora James, supervisor of elections, St Vincent and the Grenadines (deputy chief of mission); Ramon Orlando Alleyne, chairman, Electoral and Boundaries Commission of Barbados; Fatima Elizabeth Gordon, supervisor of registering officers, Elections and Boundaries Department of Belize; Maureen John-Xavier, attorney-at-law, St Lucia; Andrew Anthony Smith, regional manager, Electoral Commission of Jamaica; Schnaida Adely, vice-president, Haiti Provisional Electoral Council; and Felix Gregoire, chairman, Public Service Commission, Commonwealth of Dominica.
The mission is supported by the four Caricom Secretariat staff: Angella Prendergast, director, foreign and community relations; Shae-Alicia Lewis, programme manager, community relations; Irvin Brown, project officer, foreign and community relations; and Serojnie Seetaram, senior secretary, foreign and community relations.
