A test for democracy

THIS COUNTRY’s democracy is about to be put to the test.

The general election campaign up to April 28, the administration of the poll by the EBC and the eventual voter turnout will tell us about the health of that democracy.

For months, the PNM has said it is ready. The UNC has said it is ready. Even new parties have said they are ready. Yet is the EBC ready?

The reasonable expectation is that the election commission has the capacity, at a moment’s notice, to fulfil its mandate. Already, the body is projecting a gung-ho, can-do disposition, as you would expect. But its functions are as broad logistically, as they are important, constitutionally.

The commission must, in coming days, do everything in its power to attend to the usual matters pertaining to the one million voters, at least, listed to vote. This includes registering of special electors, a procedure which began on March 19 – hours after Prime Minister Stuart Young announced the poll – and ends on April 4, which is also nomination day.

The EBC must, furthermore, guarantee that the conduct of the election, involving over 2,000 polling stations across 41 constituencies, will go as smoothly as possible as envisioned in the Representation of the People Act.

The long lines and delays of the last poll, undertaken amid a pandemic with distancing and sanitisation requirements, should be well behind us.

The 41-day preparation window formally given by Mr Young is narrow, but it is not the shortest.

Patrick Manning’s snap poll of 1995 was announced by him on October 6, 1995 – 31 days to the November 6, 1995, date. Mr Manning also announced the 2007 and 2010 elections 38 days prior. The 2020 election under Keith Rowley was also called with a 38-day window.

However, a key challenge will be apprising the population of the new names recently approved for five constituencies.

It is not a good sign that some areas of the EBC website have been slow to reflect these. Without a barrage of advertising, this is a recipe for confusion. Additionally, boundary changes may have shifted candidates for some areas.

Turnout in 2020 was down drastically from 2015, coming in at 58 per cent when compared to the previous 66.8 per cent in 2015 and 69.9 per cent in 2010.

An early poll does not always a low turnout make, as seen in 2010.

It remains to be seen whether April’s confluence of religious observances, holidays, the trail end of an SoE and the recent historic Whitehall transition will dampen involvement in or, in fact, energise discussion of politics in homes. At base, with covid19 faded, the EBC should brace for a surge.