UNC cancels internal elections

THE OPPOSITION UNC has cancelled its national executive elections that were due to be held this month — with the main item on the agenda being the election of three deputy political leaders to assist UNC leader Basdeo Panday. In a statement yesterday, the UNC said it has also postponed constituency executive elections “to a date to be fixed.” The Opposition party said: “The decision to postpone the party’s internal elections was taken at a meeting of the national executive last Wednesday. “The party has put a hold on the elections until it has completed a study of the changes in the electoral boundaries and the creation of five additional seats proposed by the Elections and Boun-daries Commission (EBC).” In July, an EBC report recommending that the number of constituencies in Trinidad and Tobago be increased from 36 to 41 was laid in Parliament. Prime Minister Patrick Manning said the PNM had no problem with the proposals in that report but would have to study them in greater detail. Panday said the UNC also needed time to study the report.

The UNC said: “The changes proposed by the EBC will impact on the configuration of the party’s electoral structure for internal elections. “The UNC is concerned that the EBC’s revision of boundaries favours the ruling party and does not reflect the constitutional requirement of equal number of electors in each constituency.” The Opposition reiterated its call for constitutional reform and suggested that “such electoral boundary changes (as proposed in the EBC report) should be done by a representative commission made up of legitimate political parties represented in the Parliament” and the EBC could continue to manage the electoral process. The Opposition declared: “Such a system will remove the fundamental matter of electoral boundary changes from the hands of a few persons who claim to be “independent” but in reality manipulate the electoral boundaries to favour one or the other political parties.” The UNC claimed this system is currently in operation in New Zealand.