PNM candidate for Aranguez/St Joseph Terrence Deyalsingh warned young men in the constituency about people in black vans offering drugs, alcohol and money to support a political party.
Deyalsingh, in a video on social media on April 21, appealed to the young men, saying while what is being offered is temporary, what his party offers will be able to feed them and their families for a lifetime.
“There are two black pick-ups driving through the constituency. In those two black pick-ups they are bringing bags of money, they are bringing weed, Hennessey, Rude Boy and bullets.
“I want to ask the young men of this country and Aranguez/St Joseph, is it worth it? Are you going to sell your soul and the soul of this nation for Rude Boy, ganja and $5,000? When the money, Rude Boy and ganja is finished, what is your future?"
He alleged the party sharing these items was offering to “give you a high for one day and to eat ah food for a week,” while he is offering opportunities for employment and self-development.
“I am offering you skills training, agriculture, to become a linesman, to operate a forklift so you could be independent and feed yourself for a lifetime.
“When that money is finished, what is your future? Stick with me so that you can be the man you want to be and a man that your family can be proud of.”
At a political rally on April 12, Prime Minister Stuart Young suggested that the UNC was using black TT nationals to spread division and hate.
“I warned TT that there was a young man on social media in a UNC shirt talking about how he bought 1,000 tie wraps to tie up the hands and the feet of PNM people so they cannot vote on the 28. Do you all remember that story? How many of you all saw that video?
“We cannot sit here quietly in this country as right-thinking, law-abiding citizens and see these things going on and say nothing about it.
“I am standing here tonight telling the country and putting the country on alert that these tactics that they think are okay and they are also adding to it the element of race because they are using black Trinidadians to try and sell this, because they think we are stupid,” Young said.
A 35-year-old man from Santa Flora was arrested by officers on April 11 after a video depicting him expressing plans to harass PNM supporters went viral.
He was arrested by officers of the National Operations Unit under the supervision of ACP Richard Smith and ASP Ramharrack in an exercise in Penal.
In an interview on April 21, Chief Elections Officer of the Elections and Boundaries Commission Fern Narcis-Scope said if people had information of incidents of voter buying or suppression, they should take it to the police.
“If I am made aware of that kind of activity, I, too, will contact the police on behalf of the organisation,” she said.
She added that while it is common for accusations of voter buying and suppression to be thrown about during elections – and it may intensify with the April 28 general elections only days away – it was behaviour that should not be encouraged or is even lawful.
“As the entity responsible for the conduct of the elections, we would want to encourage, whether political parties or their supporters, to be mindful of the Representation of the People’s Act and exercise civic responsibility during the remainder of the campaign.
“If there are allegations of vote buying, we encourage the public to report these things to the police so they can investigate those matters.
“If people are afraid to report it to the police but report it to the EBC, they can do so and we will pass any information of anything that is untoward happening in the electoral process.”
