Vasant Bharath and his slate has dropped out of the UNC internal elections race.
Bharath made the announcement during a news conference yesterday at Charlieville, Chaguanas.
He said the election process was flawed and that he would have nothing to do with it.
The former government minister said because of the illegality of the election any UNC member can challenge the results in a court of law and called for the resignation of the UNC’s Elections Management Committee.
He accused the committee members of showing open bias towards Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Bharath said he is not contemplating legal action at this time as he and his cohorts would remain loyal UNC members.
He reiterated that the UNC under the leadership of Persad-Bissessar would not see the corridors of power should a general election be called.
Bharath said, “It is with much regret to the thousands of electors within the rank and file of the UNC who seek meaningful change at the level of its leadership in order to set the party on the path of a great victory over the PNM and a return to government, that I say I cannot and will not lead any group into this charade of illegality. It is time we return to those treasured values of honesty, decency and civility. My group and I shall therefore not participate in a poll in which there is no vacancy for political leader and we shall not participate in a poll in which the offered slate of candidates of the incumbent political leader starts at an unfair and significant advantage. We shall not participate in any election run by biased and corrupted persons who seek their own political gain.”
He said feedback from UNC supporters indicated that they were fed-up with the direction in which the party was heading.
He said since the announcement of the internal election he has penned two letters to the general secretary of the party requesting information on matters of the publication of the voters’ list and the availability of other information. He said eight days after his first letter, the Elections Management Committee (EMC) responded but did not adequately addressed his concerns when it came to equality and fairness.
Bharath said no one can feel confident that the EMC will assure fairness after Persad-Bissessar used the Monday Night Forum on November 6 to launch her campaign with party funds and attack her other party contender.
He claimed the EMC has refused to date to provide his slate with a revised list of electors.