Judge rules today on UNC election petitions

The UNC in its petitions has asked the High Court to declare September 7, 2015 results in the constituencies of Toco/Sangre Grande, Tunapuna, St Joseph, San Fernando West, and Moruga/Tableland null and void because of what, it says, was an illegal decision by the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) to grant an additional hour for voting in Trinidad due to bad weather.

At the close of submissions on July 12, Dean-Armorer said she had thought long and hard on today’s date to give her ruling.

The judge began hearing submissions from the UNC, the People’s National Movement (PNM), whose candidates won the five contested constituencies, and the EBC on June 29.

In November last, the appellate court, by a majority ruling, gave the approval for the judge to hear the petitions. A sixth petition, challenging the results in the La Horquetta/Talparo constituency, was thrown out by the appellate court in May. British Queen’s Counsel Timothy Straker, who led the UNC battery of lawyers, in his opening described the September 7 polls as “a shambles” and a “shockingly ill-conceived” consideration to extend the voting time.

Straker contended that in any election the rule of law prevailed and the Representation of the People’s Act and the Constitution set out an “enormous sequence of steps to be taken.” In defence, the PNM’s attorneys urged the judge to reject the petitions, saying the UNC had failed to prove the extension materially affected the outcome of the election.

Douglas Mendes SC, who led the team of attorneys for the PNM, said the five candidates would still have won even if all the votes cast during the extension were subtracted.

Lawyers for the EBC argued that the commission had no choice but to extend the general election by one hour because of major flooding