Local News

UNC complaints a strategy for election petition, says Al-Rawi

28 April 2025
This content originally appeared on News Day - Trinidad and Tobago.
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Electors hold up their ink-stained fingers in a sign to show they voted at Parvati Girls' Hindu College, Debe in the Oropouche East constituency on April 28.  - Photo by Lincoln Holder
Electors hold up their ink-stained fingers in a sign to show they voted at Parvati Girls' Hindu College, Debe in the Oropouche East constituency on April 28. - Photo by Lincoln Holder

FORMER attorney general Faris Al-Rawi has dismissed myriads of written complaints the United National Congress (UNC) has dispatched to Chief Election Officer Fern Narcis-Scope about alleged election irregularities on April 28.

Al-Rawi, the PNM San Fernando West candidate, said this is merely a ploy by the opposition to file an election petition after the results are declared.

He warned that this is a movie he has seen twice, after the 2015 and 2020 elections, and it will not end well for the UNC a third time.

The UNC dispatched 15 letters of complaints at about 4 pm, ranging from the PNM setting up a mock station in a residence, within 100 yards of polling stations 3880 and 3881 at Gulf View, La Romaine where it said a former mayor, councillors and campaign managers converged.

Complaints about some employers giving workers one hour to vote contrary to election rule 28 which guarantees all employees two hours to cast their votes, reports of voter suppression tactics at Aranguez Hindu Primary School, extreme delays in the San Juan/Barataria constituency and general neglect of established protocols for processing of electors by EBC staff.

Speaking to the media after he cast his vote at San Fernando West Secondary School shortly before noon on April 28, Al-Rawi said, “In 2015 we had an election petition and in the 2020 election, I had to count all the votes myself in a recount.

“This is a clear strategy, in my view, to set the stage for an election petition. We would have none of that, this is why we are making sure to carefully observe the process.

“I have done many election petitions as a lawyer and also as a defendant in proceedings which we won. This is just par for the course. The UNC strategy is "jhan jat" (Hindu word for confusion), confusion, bacchanal, mayhem. Come on, we all know what they are about. I have seen this movie many times and it does not end well for them.”

Al-Rawi who is one of four candidates contesting the San Fernando West seat, also hit back with allegations of his own.

“Right here, at this polling station, there are serious allegations that our opponents were caught in voter intimidation, some campaigning too close, telling voters when you go inside, 'vote yellow'.

Also, he said, a banner of UNC candidate Dr Michael Dowlath was on the school compound that is a polling station, on the day of election,

“We have taken note of it. We have reported it we are treating with it with sincerity because that is not allowed. This has to be something that is fair.”

ACP Wayne Mystar who passed through the school while Al-Rawi, accompanied by his mother, Diane Seukeran, a former MP for San Fernando West, said he had no reports of irregularities and if any reports were made and people were willing to stand, they would be investigated.

He said in the zone for which he has responsibility, from Caroni to Cedros/Icacos, there were no reports unearthed about plans to disrupt the proceedings.