PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC -Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley Tuesday described as “completely unacceptable” an announcement made by the chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Fee (EBC), Mark Ramkerrysingh, that returning officers will likely be requested to declare their social gathering allegiance and membership earlier than working in polling stations.
“The EBC’s place of questioning EBC workers about their vote is unacceptable,” Rowley wrote on his Fb web page, including, “The vote on this nation is secret, and no particular person in public employment should be compelled to disclose how she or he voted or intends to vote.”
Rowley, the political chief of the ruling Individuals’s Nationwide Motion (PNM), stated, “Returning officers are to not adjust to this unusual and disturbing improvement on the EBC.
“The PNM, which has not been consulted on this matter, is resolutely against this pointless and probably unlawful motion,” Rowley stated, asking, “The place did this come from?”
Opposition Chief and chief of the primary opposition United Nationwide Congress (UNC) Kamla Persad Bissessar, who additionally expressed considerations concerning the report, advised reporters she wants extra info earlier than making a whole assertion.
Ramkerrysingh, talking at a journalism workshop sequence titled: “Enhancing Moral and Efficient Election Protection,” stated that EBC had sought exterior authorized recommendation from a senior counsel who offered an opinion that the EBC may make this request of returning officers.
Ramkerrysingh, who spoke on the position of the EBC in elections on the workshop being hosted by the Trinidad & Tobago Publishers and Broadcasters Affiliation (TTPBA) and the Media Institute of the Caribbean (MIC) in collaboration with the British Excessive Fee right here, stated the EBC selects 41 returning officers.
When requested about steps to make sure the transparency of returning officers and election workers, Ramkerrysingh stated the EBC sometimes doesn’t settle for social gathering activists’ returning officers.
He stated a returning officer is eliminated if the EBC discovers they’re an activist and that disclosing social gathering allegiance and membership would solely apply to the 41 returning officers and solely to some 16,000 individuals who work for elections.
Later, Ramkerrysingh advised the Trinidad Specific newspaper that the EBC didn’t anticipate objections from political events to the transfer to require returning officers to declare their social gathering affiliation.
He stated the choice was taken as a result of the EBC has obtained complaints about returning officers, and this method would possibly assist take care of such considerations.
He acknowledged that the EBC didn’t increase this with any political social gathering; it took this motion itself in response to the earlier accusations.
Political scientist Dr. Bishnu Ragoonath, who was among the many presenters on the workshop, stated he’s not “uncomfortable with what I’m listening to primarily based on what you’ve gotten seen in different jurisdictions.
“As an illustration, I’ve used the instance of Guyana. There are considerations about what occurred in Venezuela…however I’m not overly perturbed by the truth that that is being requested now.
“There are two issues. You might be being requested to declare your social gathering membership, which doesn’t essentially imply that you’re not going to be employed or engaged,” Ragoonath advised an area radio station.
Trinidad and Tobago vote in a normal election constitutionally due in August subsequent yr.
Associated
