The Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) will consider appealing to Parliament for additional powers to manage elections in T&T. EBC chief elections officer, Ramesh Nanan, made the statement yesterday minutes after the Court of Appeal had ruled that the commission overstepped its remit in extending last September’s general elections by one hour due to heavy rainfall.
Despite the ruling against his organisation, Nanan said the outcome was not wholly negative. “There are some positives coming out of it, especially that we conducted the election in a free and fair manner,” Nanan said.
In a press release yesterday, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar dismissed criticism over her party’s rejected lawsuit.
“To those who poured scorn on us for daring to challenge the EBC and the election results, we say justice has been served, according to law. These cases were clearly meritorious and deserving of judicial consideration. Our jurisprudence and democracy have been immeasurably enriched by the unprecedented learning that these judgments bring,” Persad-Bissessar said.
Thanking the Court of Appeal for its quick judgment, she said it was necessary to define the role of the EBC in managing elections.
“We now focus our attention on the local government elections which are imminent in the knowledge that, come rain or sunshine, there can be no recurrence of the unlawful meddling and intervention by the EBC,” Persad-Bissessar said.
Speaking to reporters after the judgment was delivered, Minister in Office of the Attorney General, Stuart Young, said the result was vindication for the People’s National Movement.
“At all times the PNM was of the opinion that this was merely an attempt by the UNC to try and confuse the people of T&T into believing that they had won the election,” Young said.
Asked if he expected the result to affect already tense relations between the Government and the Opposition, Young said no.
“The people have spoken and let’s get on with the governance of T&T because we in the PNM continue to stand ready to collaborate on the important pieces of legislation that require a special majority,” he said.