Thousands vote against PNM

At a press conference at the committee’s Ariapita Avenue, Woodbrook, office, Cadiz said copies of the results would be sent to Manning, Persad-Bissessar, President George Maxwell Richards, Speaker of the House, Barry Sinanan and President of the Senate, Rawle Titus.

Cadiz said a total of 48,000 ballots were returned and it was “a remarkable figure.” He said tens of thousands of ballots were sent back to the committee from TT Post, which gave various reasons for not delivering them.

Telling how the voting went, he said, “On the issue of crime, we asked if citizens felt the State was responsible for their safety, and if the State was violating the Constitution. Some 45,222 said yes they held the State responsible for their safety.”

Cadiz said on the issue of poverty, they asked citizens if they felt their lives had worsened or gotten better and 44,972 felt their lives had not become better.

“We asked citizens if they felt there was a crisis in leadership in TT and 45,649 said yes. We also asked how many had a no-confidence vote in Manning and Persad-Bissessar and 43,358 said they had no confidence in them.”

Cadiz summed up the response this way. “Forty-eight thousand is a very good figure as far as we are concerned. Evidently this is the start of an awakening of a normally apathetic electorate. We consider the response remarkable and the Keith Noel Committee would not be disappearing by any means. We would be going back to the community.”

Cadiz said the response to the referendum meant that the country has embarked on a new form of protest, moving from burning tyres on the streets.

Noting that he has seen no reference to a referendum in the Government’s new draft constitution, he said the committee is now going to lobby to get the process put in.

Of the tens of thousands of ballots that were never delivered, Cadiz said TT Post said 25,000 persons were unknown, 17,000 had moved to another address and 1,000 were deceased.

“Something is wrong with the postal system and the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), whose list we used, has a huge task coming up, he said.

“TT Post told us at first it would take them five days to deliver the ballots but five days became three weeks. Even though we closed off mailing on August 11, people are telling us that they are still receiving ballots.”