Phillip Alexander tells EBC: Hold fresh election

FORMER leader of the Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) Phillip Edward Alexander is demanding that the Election and Boundaries Commission (EBC) nullify Monday’s general election and hold a fresh one.

In a release on Wednesday morning, Alexander said there were many “inconsistencies, missteps and failures” by the EBC in the execution of the election.

He said they are “far too numerous to ignore, especially when one considers that the EBC is led by a chief election officer who is a relative of at least two senior members of the PNM and that not one of the EBC mistakes affected or undermined the PNM or their chances.”

The allegation that Fern Narcis-Scope is related to senior members of the PNM has been denied by the Prime Minister and others.

Alexander also said: “We call on the EBC to explain why parties were able to spend tens of millions on campaigning in direct violation of the law that caps their spend to no more than $50,000 on the entire campaign per constituency.”

He also called on the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to “explain their silence” on the source of “dirty funds that corrupted the election.

“In a post covid19 world, it is far too easy to operate the elections in an electronic environment allowing our people to safely vote from the privacy of their homes, and we suggest that we choose such a platform that would make it possible for all our people to vote at far less cost than managing all the staff required for all the polling stations while protecting voters from potential covid19 infection.

“We demand – in light of what took place on August 10 – that fresh elections be called with sufficient lead time to give all parties the same advantages, to provide adequate opportunity to repatriate all our citizens trapped outside so that they can exercise their right to vote, and to allow for international observers to attend and safeguard the process.”

He said too many citizens were either left out or frustrated out of the system, which led to the “lowest voter turnout in our history.”

He said a“national election committee” should be established to review all the issues he raised “…and any others that might impact on the proper execution of the next election, to set a date for a new election, and to ensure that measures are put in place to ensure that it is conducted in a free and fair manner.”

The PEP did not win any seats in the election, and Alexander resigned as the party’s leader on the same day.

An old clip of him has also resurfaced on social media in which he said, “I saying it plain, if you don’t want to vote for me, keep your f------g vote. Kiss my half-red a-- tonight.”