Duke on PSA 'voter irregularities': Talk to election officers

Returning president of the Public Services Association (PSA) Watson Duke is urging disgruntled candidates and members to take up their concerns with the association's election committee, as he believes the voting process was free and fair.

The elections, held on Monday, came after three years of lawsuits raised when former candidate Gabriel Solomon questioned the validity of the PSA's voters' list.

The elections were originally scheduled for November 23, but were delayed again to December 14 when High Court judge Nadia Kangaloo found duplications in the list presented by the association at the time.

Duke declared victory during a live stream on his Facebook page on Wednesday night, in which he claimed to have won the election after receiving 1,758 votes.

One of Duke's opponents Nixon Callender accused him of deliberately trying to frustrate registered members out of voting by transporting them outside their designated polling areas so they had to cast special ballots in a lengthy process.

Speaking with Newsday at his Abercromby Street, Port of Spain, office on Thursday, Duke said critics should take their queries and grievances to the relevant authorities.

He added that while he was confident of a victory for his Game Changers team, he would also query the results, in the interest of transparency, as he believed his win was "much more decisive.

"That's a matter for Mr Callender to take up with the election committee.

"If your name is on a list and you live in Penal but supposed to vote in Port of Spain, you can stay in Penal and vote, but your vote will be a special vote.

"While we knew we would have won clearly, we believe that is a misrepresentation of the votes cast for us. More votes have been cast for us than what they are projecting and we will show them our list from ballot to ballot."

Duke also responded to claims that a three-day wait for election results was unheard of, saying in all the PSA's elections, it took three to five days to tally the votes, owing to special ballots.

Newsday understands for this election all special ballots were counted only by the election officer, Selwyn Malcolm.

Speaking on his plans for the PSA going forward, Duke said he intends to introduce more streamlined systems to allow members to file complaints more conveniently.

In his victory speech, Duke also said he had already written to the Minister of Finance to continue salary negotiations for National Insurance Board (NIB) workers.

He also announced that he wrote to Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales with the hopes of beginning discussions to oversee the transition of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) to prevent the loss of workers.