Trinidad and Tobago chief elections officer heads Caricom team for St Lucia polls

Trinidad and Tobago's Chief Elections Officer Fern Narcis-Scope is a member of a Caricom election observation mission (CEOM) team in St Lucia for the country’s general elections on Monday. The ten-member team, headed by Narcis-Scope, will observe the electoral process, collect qualitative and quantitative information regarding the voting process and the results to facilitate the preparation of an independent final report on the general elections of Saint Lucia.

In a release, the Caricom Secretariat said since the team’s arrival in St Lucia between July 20-22, meetings were held with Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, representative of the leader of the opposition and political leader of the Saint Labour Party (SLP) Claudius Francis, commissioner of police Milton Desir, chairperson Cynthia Combie Martyr and representatives of the Electoral Commission of Saint Lucia. Meetings have also been held with a number of independent candidates.

It said the CEOM also met with other stakeholders from a wide cross-section of civil society organisations including the Saint Lucia Chamber of Commerce, the National Youth Council, the National Council of Persons with Disabilities and the Saint Lucia Blind Welfare Association.

It said these meetings were held in an effort to provide the CEOM with an idea of the atmosphere and level of preparedness for the election. As part of the precautionary measures regarding the covid19 pandemic, a number of the appointments have been conducted virtually.

On Friday, the mission witnessed the advanced polls including the , poll day workers, fire service officers and hospital patients. It will continue to observe the pre-election period and the election day activities including the opening of the polls through to the tabulation and announcement of the results.

Following the conclusion of the election on Monday, a preliminary statement will be issued outlining the mission’s initial assessment of the electoral process. the mission will thereafter prepare a detailed independent final report on the election for submission to Caricom secretary general Irwin LaRocque.

Other members of the team are John Jarvis and Jeanette Charles from Antigua and Barbuda, Sase Gunraj and Manoj Narayan of Guyana, ambassador Michael Powell of St Kitts and Nevis, Dora James from St Vincent and the Grenadines, Steven Mac Andrew and Hendrik Jamaloodin from Suriname and Pamela Ogiste from TT. The mission is supported by Jhonson Alexandre and Serojnie Seetaram of the Foreign and Community Relations Directorate of the Caricom Secretariat.

The CEOM was formed following the receipt of a letter by LaRocque from the St Lucian PM inviting Caricom to observe the elections.