Al-Rawi on ‘fuzzy’ video allegations: UNC foolishness

ATTORNEY General Faris Al-Rawi says a video circulating on social media purporting to be him going to an Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) office on election day is a fabrication.

Al-Rawi, who successfully contested the San Fernando West seat for a second time, said, “It is nothing more than a last-ditch effort by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar to save herself from political death."

After her second consecutive general election loss, Persad-Bissessar’s continuing leadership of the United National Congress is now being questioned.

At a news conference in San Fernando on Tuesday, the party’s PRO Anita Haynes spoke about the video circulating on social media in which the person alleged to be Al-Rawi was seen at an EBC office in Marabella after the polls closed on Monday.

Haynes said this is one of the issues her party will raise in a letter to be sent to the EBC on certain election-day irregularities in the absence of Caricom or Commonwealth observers.

In the two-minute-long video, which was out of focus, the voices of two people can be heard describing the man they identified as Al-Rawi, “with a set of papers in his hands” in the company of police officers heading towards the EBC office.

The video also shows a clearer image of the departure of the masked man, wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and dark-coloured trousers.

Al-Rawi told Newsday he saw the video.

“I saw some fuzzy-looking video. I don’t know who made that, where it is, what day that is, what that is all about. I am not participating in any UNC foolishness.

“Let those who fabricated that come forward and say what they did and who they are. This is Kamla Persad-Bissessar trying to rescue herself from political death.”

The UNC has requested ballot recounts in five constituencies won by the People’s National Movement (PNM), including San Fernando West. UNC candidate Sean Sobers lost the seat by almost 2,000 votes.

Sobers said he preferred not to comment on the video.