EBC: No formal request to delay polls

AS of Tuesday evening the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) has received no request to postpone the August 10 general election, EBC communications officer Bobbi Rogers told Newsday.

Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) head Phillip Edward Alexander had called for the election to be postponed because of the covid19 pandemic, including the impact of quarantine requirements and closed national borders in impeding foreign election observers from monitoring the polls.

Rogers said, “The EBC has received no correspondence from Mr Alexander on this matter.”

She said any delay of elections was governed by the Representation of the People Act section 34 (1).

Rogers said the EBC does not have the power to postpone elections.

Further any postponement cannot be done ad hoc, but only in line with the RPA Act.

Rogers said the legislation allows a postponement for occurrences such as war, state of emergency, earthquake, pestilence, infectious disease or the need for a revised voters list.