Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is yet to announce the date for the 2015 general election, but the Elections and Boundaries Commission has started putting its house in order.
The commission has started recruiting staff for election day and is hoping to hire 14,000 personnel.
Speculation is rife that the Prime Minister will announce the eagerly awaited election date on May 24 when the People’s Partnership holds its grand fifth anniversary celebrations at Constantine Park, Macoya.
Several dates are being bandied about in political circles, among them September 7 and September 14.
Yesterday, Dominic Hinds, EBC’s corporate communications manager, confirmed that the commission has begun training its internal staff in preparation for the election bell’s tolling.
This week, the EBC published advertisements calling on citizens interested in working for election day to collect application forms for polling day staff positions, which include presiding officers, returning officers and clerks.
Hinds, in an email to the Sunday Guardian, said “the procedure is a normal practice conducted by EBC prior to any elections.”
He said the EBC expected to have approximately 14,000 people assigned to the various polling stations throughout the country on polling day.
“Preceding this, though, persons will have to undergo a series of training (about five days) and then complete an assessment examination. Thereafter the final selection of polling day staff will be determined,” he said.
The EBC, he said, had not been informed of the election date, but was putting procedures in place for the proroguing of Parliament on June 17.
After that, the Government has 90 days to call an election and the EBC, Hinds said, required a minimum of 35 days for the preparation of any election.
Hinds also said the redesign of the EBC’s new website, which will be an interactive platform with the capability to deliver real-time election day results, would be ready in the next couple of weeks.
“We are presently working on its final phase with the developers,” Hinds added. (RR)