After Nunez-Tesheira’s concerns…PNM chairman assures election process transparent

Chair­man of the Elec­tion Su­per­vi­so­ry Com­mit­tee of the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) An­tho­ny Roberts in a let­ter to At­tor­ney Egon Em­brack as­sured him that the elec­toral process in the PNM is trans­par­ent.

Em­brack is rep­re­sent­ing PNM po­lit­i­cal leader can­di­date in the par­ty’s in­ter­nal par­ty elec­tions, Karen Nunez-Teshiera.

In let­ters dat­ed Oc­to­ber 14 and 20, Nunez-Teshiera’s team had writ­ten to Roberts de­mand­ing that he pro­vide an­swers on the trans­paren­cy of the elec­tion process.

Nunez-Teshiera’s team sent the let­ter with Roberts’ re­spons­es to the me­dia.

These are the ex­cerpts:

Chairman of the Election Supervisory Committee of the People’s National Movement Anthony Roberts.

SHIRLEY BAHADUR

1. Ques­tion: What is the jus­ti­fi­ca­tion for the nine-day elec­toral process from No­vem­ber 26 to De­cem­ber 4?

An­swer: Your client ought to be fa­mil­iar with the in­ter­nal process of the PNM and its con­sti­tu­tion. The de­ci­sion to con­duct the elec­tion on No­vem­ber 26 and 27 and De­cem­ber 4 was a de­ci­sion tak­en by the Cen­tral Ex­ec­u­tive of the par­ty on Au­gust 10, 2022.

2. At the end of the day, what will hap­pen to the bal­lot box­es? How will they be han­dled?

The process im­me­di­ate­ly pre­ced­ing the close of the re­spec­tive vot­ing days is that the re­spec­tive box­es with bal­lots will be sealed, signed and safe­ly trans­port­ed to the se­cure lo­ca­tion to be ac­com­pa­nied by the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) and mem­bers of the Elec­tion and Su­per­vi­so­ry Com­mit­tee (ESC). The ESC is cur­rent­ly com­plet­ing a doc­u­ment en­ti­tled “The Guide­lines to the PNM’s elec­tions 2022”. A copy will be pro­vid­ed to all can­di­dates no lat­er than No­vem­ber 2.

3. Will the bal­lot box­es be trans­port­ed from one lo­ca­tion to an­oth­er for safe­keep­ing? If so, by whom?

 The box­es with bal­lots will be trans­port­ed to an­oth­er se­cret lo­ca­tion for safe­keep­ing. This will be done by mem­bers of the TTPS and ESC.

4. What de­tail will be used to trans­port the bal­lot box­es? TTPS de­tail or per­son­al de­tail?

 The box­es with bal­lots will be trans­port­ed by a po­lice de­tail.

5. Are the bal­lot box­es to be re­turned the next day to the polling sta­tion? What is the pro­ce­dure?

New emp­ty box­es will be pro­vid­ed on each day of vot­ing.

6. Af­ter vot­ing is com­plet­ed on De­cem­ber 4, 2022, what is the pro­ce­dure or method­ol­o­gy for treat­ing with bal­lot box­es?

 At the end of the vot­ing process on De­cem­ber 4, 2022, the re­spec­tive box­es with bal­lots will be se­cure­ly trans­port­ed from the Con­ven­tion to the site of the count­ing sta­tion.

7. Where will the bal­lot box­es be? What safe, se­cure and fair pro­ce­dures, poli­cies and pro­to­cols are in place for the safe-keep­ing of the bal­lot box­es?

The sealed box­es with bal­lots will be stored at a se­cured se­cret lo­ca­tion through­out the du­ra­tion of the elec­tion process and shall on­ly be re­moved on the day al­lo­ca­tion to the count­ing of the cast­ed bal­lots.

8. What are the re­quire­ments for new reg­is­trants to vote in the up­com­ing in­ter­nal elec­tions?

A de­ci­sion was tak­en by the Gen­er­al Coun­cil of the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) that Au­gust 24, 2022, was the cut-off date for per­sons sub­mit­ting ap­pli­ca­tions to be­come a mem­ber of the PNM and to be able to par­tic­i­pate in the in­ter­nal par­ty elec­tions.