President says no to another request to defer election

The President has responded to the Trinidad Humanity Campaign’s request to defer the election to allow for a Caricom observer mission. She said her powers for postponing the election are limited to those listed under the Representation of the People Act, which do not include accommodating such a mission.

THC had written to the President on July 31 to ask her to defer the election for two to three weeks to allow for the arrival, quarantine process and period, and health clearance of a Caricom mission for the election.

In its letter THC said it was concerned about how the reputation of the country would be affected if there were no observers of the election.

“Observer missions are used in many countries to provide an extra element of transparency to the election processes. It is an overarching sign of a free and fair election process in any country. We are more concerned about the reputation our country can develop, over the next five years, if we do not engage election observers in our upcoming election this year. We may be looked upon by the rest of the world, as a more corrupt country than they already see us.”

The party said one of its goals is to ensure that TT’s image and reputation is held in the highest regard.

“Giving our country the ability to have election observers in our process will prevent any further breakdown of our country’s reputation, will increase the trust our citizens have in its government, and will demonstrate the real power of our honourable president, as many citizens are of the opinion that our presidential office is obsolete.”

The President’s response, dated August 3, included Section 34 of the act, which lists the reasons under which an election can be postponed. In addition, it said,

“…the President’s power to postpone the general election is limited to the reasons set out in the Representation of the People Act. Therefore, the election cannot be postponed for the purpose of accommodating a Caricom Election Observer Mission.”