UNC: Legal action if PM doesn't name local government elections date today

THE UNC says it will move forward with legal action against the government if the Prime Minister does not announce the date of local government elections in Parliament today.

The Lower House meets today at the Red House from 1.30pm.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday morning, Opposition MP Dinesh Rambally said Dr Rowley should have announced the date since last Thursday.

It was then that the Privy Council ruled that Parliament was wrong to extend the term of incumbent local government councillors and aldermen by a year.

On Monday, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the UNC is drafting another pre-action protocol letter to Rowley demanding he call the elections now.

Additionally, in Senate on Tuesday, the Opposition asked Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC, if the government is addressing this issue.

Armour said Rowley would address it in Parliament on Wednesday.

Rambally said one does not have to be a "law lord to see what must be done now.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this PNM government is sending a clear signal to the world – they believe that they are above the rule of law!"

Opposition Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial added that the UNC is continually speaking about the judgment, rather than running and hiding from the public, "which is apparently the PNM approach to it."

A responsible government, she said, would have called the date last week.

"This government is simply taking our democracy down a road towards total and complete failure. We are falling apart. We are becoming a failed state under a failed government.

"For one week, they have been relaxing while we have a crisis in local government."

She said the PNM is "mortally afraid" of the electorate, adding: "If today, they stand in that Parliament and say anything except when the election is going to be held, that is all the validation that you need..."

Asked by Newsday what would be the UNC's next steps if a date is not announced today, Lutchmedial said the party is "willing and able and committed to exploring our legal options. The work has already started on research in terms of what we can do and a pre-action protocol letter is being looked at and being considered at this time.

"It may very well be that we may have to initiate contempt proceedings against the government, because they are really in contempt of the judgment. They are also in breach of the Municipal Corporations Act...It may very well be that we may have to file a claim against the government asking the court to declare that they are acting ultra vires the Municipal Corporations Act and issue a mandatory order compelling them to call an election date..."

She said if a date is not announced, the UNC would also like to hear what the PNM has to say.

"Because sometimes it is in the articulation of their reasons that they put their foot so deep down their throats that we are able to succeed in some of this litigation.

"The legal team will be watching to hear what they have to say and the justification and explanation and the logic or illogical path that they may take when they speak in the Parliament this afternoon."