Independent Liberal Party (ILP) leader Jack Warner believes that there is another more sinister reason behind the People’s Partnership Government’s ramped up distribution of Housing Development Corporation (HDC) houses.
He says the drive may be linked to a Government plan to use information contained in the Elections and Boundaries Commission’s (EBC) report on the 2013 local government elections, which it has so far failed to disclose to Parliament, to its advantage ahead of the general elections.
Speaking to the T&T Guardian yesterday, Warner claimed Government officials received the report 18 months ago and are hiding it.
“The ILP is very concerned over this because we believe that the Government is suppressing this report for many reasons and have therefore failed to lay it before the Parliament.
“I believe that the distribution of houses is just another candid scheme to help them manipulate some constituencies, like Couva North and Couva South, since persons can be relocated into select constituencies, especially marginal constituencies, and registered as electors in those constituencies after only two months according to Section 12 (1) of the Representation of the People Act.”
Attempts by the ILP, for the greater part of last year, to obtain a copy of the election report from the EBC have been unsuccessful, Warner said.
“The ILP has been constantly advised by EBC officials that the report was prepared by the EBC and forwarded to the Minister of Local Government as required by the law, and the release of the report is therefore up to the whim of the Government,” he said.
Warner strongly believes that alleged manipulation of the electorate to obtain an advantage is a fraud on the population.
“It is a threat to democracy that brings into question whether the General Election 2015 will be fair,” he said.
Hidden Agenda
The Independent Liberal Party (ILP), in a release, has claimed that the PP Government demonstrated a reputation for tampering with and attempting to tamper with the electoral process.
It outlined:
1. Local Government Elections 2013
The EBC’s 7th Report under the Municipal Corporations Act and the EBC (Local Government) Act for the purposes of Local Government Elections (LGE) was suppressed for 25 months before it was brought to the Parliament.
2. EBC 2014 Report on the Review of Constituency Boundaries
EBC’s 2014 Report on the Review of Constituency Boundaries, Pursuant to Section 72 of the Constitution was dated March 27, 2014, but as tabled in the Parliament on March 18, 2015 – almost one year after the EBC gave it to the PP Government.
That report alters the boundaries of ten constituencies.
3. Run-off-Bill’
The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, No 18 of 2014, was tabled in the Parliament on August 2014. That bill, which the PP has tried to sell to the population as constitutional reform, proposes to radically change the method for electing Members to the House of Representative by introducing a run-off ballot system.
What the act says:
Section 12 (1) of the Representation of the People Act Chapter 2:01, states:
The Commission shall immediately after each election, cause to be printed a report giving—
a) the number of votes polled for each candidate, by polling divisions;
b) the number of rejected ballots;
c) the number of names on the revised lists of electors and on the list of special electors; and
d) any other information that it may deem fit to include, and shall forthwith forward a copy of the report to the persons respectively set out in subrule (5)(b).
Sub-Rule 108(5) (b) (ii) identifies those persons to whom the report is required to be forwarded forthwith, in the case of a Municipal Council Election, as follows:
“…the Minister and to the Town Clerk and the Chief Executive Officer, as the case may be, of the Municipal Council concerned.”
Sub-Rule 108(7) identifies the Minister referred to as, “the Minister responsible for Local Government.”