Chief Elections Officer at the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), Ramesh Nanan, says yesterday’s nomination day proceedings went without any untoward incidents.
He made the comment during an interview at his Frederick Street, Port-of-Spain offices, shortly after nominations closed for the November 28 Local Government Elections.
Candidates from the Congress of the People (COP), Independent Liberal Party (ILP), Movement for Social Justice (MSJ), People’s National Movement (PNM) and United National Congress (UNC) filed papers to contest the poll.
Nanan said some 53 returning officers spearheaded the operations across Trinidad yesterday.
“From all reports, the nomination proceedings went well. There were no reports of any difficulty experienced by any candidate,” Nanan said, adding the EBC also did all it could “to prevent any inconvenience to any candidate.”
Nanan said a preliminary examination of the process took place last Monday and that would have helped to ensure there were no problems during the process yesterday.
He was, however, unable to say the total number of candidates who registered yesterday, but advised citizens to “exercise your civic duty. Go out and vote peacefully.”
Nanan noted that the elections were traditionally conducted “in a peaceful manner and I would like to see that trend continue.” He also appealed to candidates to follow the election rules. There are 137 electoral districts being contested and Nanan said there are over one million people registered to vote.
PNM general secretary Ashton Ford told reporters at Balisier House, Port-of-Spain, yesterday that all 137 candidates and 137 aldermen had filed their respective nomination papers.
Candidates for the UNC were also nominated, while the COP filed nominations for nine candidates in four corporations—Tunapuna/Piarco, Point Fortin, San Fernando and Port-of-Spain.
The MSJ filed candidates for the Point Fortin and Arima Borough Corporations.