Protect Trinidad and Tobago elections

THE ELECTIONS and Boundaries Commission (EBC) is no sacred cow.

Within each election cycle, it is to be expected that issues will arise. All parties may flag these issues. They are free to communicate their concerns with the EBC. If legitimate questions of law emerge, they are also free to approach the court. But there is a thin line between holding the election body accountable and undermining democracy.

Completely unacceptable, in our view, is doing things like alleging the EBC is aligned to one party or another without evidence.

Errors, oversights, procedural quibbles – these are, lamentably, part and parcel of any large-scale public sector exercise. Within a body as important as the EBC, they should not occur. Nonetheless, they do not approach the level of conspiracy. For that to be so, it would have to be shown that such things are happening at such a rate as to be undeniable.

With at least one million people on the voting list, with the EBC training anywhere between 13,000-15,000 staff members to conduct the poll, with 16,748 special voters already voting, with 161 candidates from 17 parties processed and nominated across 41 seats, where is the evidence of widespread collusion? The EBC has acted swiftly on all complaints.

Fans of Donald Trump’s playbook, some local politicians may feel it easier to litigate a result if the population doubts the process.

Such an approach would not only be wrong, but it would also be dangerous. What happens if a party that has excessively complained wins? Officials risk cutting off their nose to spite their face. The reckless allegations must stop.

The EBC has been guilty of some unforced errors.

From the start of the campaign, it has been in reaction mode. A pattern has been permitted to take root: a party raises an issue, the EBC responds. Embarrassing questions over poll cards have surfaced. Other minor issues have been allowed to build into a general noise.

There is the risk that voter confidence may be undermined.

Yet, this overwhelming focus on EBC conduct is difficult to understand given the wider need to protect the integrity of our elections from the bewildering range of threats that now form part of modern-day polling.

How do politicians plan to address disinformation? How will they improve the policing of defamatory social media content? Who is regulating the mining of personal data? What is the plan for campaign finance reform? Which party has a strategy to tackle the influence of malign foreign actors who might have an interest in disrupting our democracy?

The origins of recent AI and deep-fake materials remain nebulous.

It is such things parties should be addressing, not which EBC official failed to seal which empty ballot box.