Stuart Young’s Lies Highlight Urgent Need for EBC Reform

Stuart Young’s address at the EBC Headquarters Sod Turning Ceremony on Wednesday 12 February 2025 was fraught with conflicts of interest, questionable timing, propaganda, blatant electioneering, and lies.

For any State institution this is problematic, but it is even moreso for the Elections and Boundaries Commissions, which oversees our elections.

One of the transparent lies that Stuart Young declared in his short address was, “There has never been any legitimate decision by the High Court — any decision by the High Court – which has found that our EBC has been anything other than fair and independent.”

This is clearly and demonstrably wrong. In the 2015 General Elections, the EBC extended the polls by one hour, which was ultimately found to be unlawful by the Court. The judgement stated, inter alia:

“the uncontrollable weather conditions did not confer on the EBC the power to direct that the law be broken. The EBC, itself a creature of statute, ought at all times to abide by the clear dictates of the law and ought not to purport to dispense with those dictates even if faced with an apparently insurmountable problems. Accordingly, it is my view and I hold that the extension of the poll on the 7th September 2015 was illegal and election officers who failed to close the poll at 6 p.m. acted in breach of Section 27(1) of the Election Rules”

Stuart Young’s boast is, therefore, not only false, but empty and shallow.

Throughout its entire history, the EBC has been flooded with controversy and clear allegations of impropriety and injustice, prompting major reforms.

The PNM have constantly tried to control the EBC, from its beginnings, and the recent sod-turning ceremony – in Stuart Young’s constituency, close to Balisier House – indicates that this control seems to be tightening, not loosening.

It should be noted that the Elections and Boundaries Commission was created amidst great controversy in 1961, after the PNM barely won the 1956 general elections, lost the 1958 Federal Elections, and lost the 1959 County Council elections.

As the highly respected political scientist, Selwyn Ryan, wrote in 1989, in his book, Revolution and Reaction: A Study of Parties and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago, 1970-1981 (Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of the West Indies, 1989), pp. 39-40:

“Following the elections of 1958 which the PNM lost largely because of the way in which the boundaries had been drawn had made it possible for the rural vote to swamp the urban areas where the PNM was strong, the PNM vowed that it would no longer leave the business of drawing electoral boundaries to a neutral commission. [emphasis added]

The nature and composition of the Commission was a subject of bitter dispute between the PNM and the DLP in the pre-independence era. The latter party wanted a commission consisting of persons drawn from the United Kingdom or other West Indian islands because of its belief that it was difficult to find anyone from within the island who was non-aligned. The PNM described this as an insult to the integrity of Trinidadians and persuaded the colonial office to approve its proposal for an essentially political commission which would include two government politicians, one from the opposition plus a judge and the Speaker as Chairman.

With three members on the Commission (the Speaker was a party man) the results of the exercise and the reaction to it was predictable. The DLP representative on the Commission saw the results of the Commission’s work as a “death blow to democracy.” He claimed, and the evidence supports his claim, that the PNM had overloaded certain constituencies in which Indians were to be found and had under subscribed urban constituencies in which blacks were predominant. In Port of Spain, the boundaries were redrafted to ensure that all upper and middle class districts were attached to areas where there were large numbers of working class persons. In the rural areas, there was strong evidence that the PNM had put as many Indians as possible into constituencies which they did not expect to win, and had recombined blocks of Negroes extracted from those constituencies in which the population was more than 50 per cent Indian. The PNM, which was assisted by a committee consisting of some of the best surveyors in the country, boasted that the country had been “scientifically gerrymandered.” To quote from one party document, “the committee carried out its assignment wonderfully, and advised the PNM members on the commission accordingly, the result of which is well known to all party members.”

Ever since its founding, the controversies and irregularities associated with the EBC are too numerous to all be mentioned, but they include:

− The imposition of voting machines – with numerous electoral irregularities, including ANR Robinson initially winning his seat in 1966 with more votes than there were electors. The population revolted against the voting machines for 15 years, resulting in their eventual removal in 1976 and replacement with paper ballots.

− The long-standing radical difference between the electoral list, which has many more people than the census indicates. The first major cleanup of the voters’ list occurred during the NAR administration in 1991, resulting in almost 90,000 names being removed. The last major cleanup occurred during the UNC administration in 2000, with almost 100,000 names being removed. No major cleanup has occurred since then, with a major discrepancy re-emerging between the population census and the voters’ lists.

− In the tied 2021 THA elections, instead of going to a straw poll, as per the law, the Prime Minister instructed the EBC to create three new seats, and they followed his instructions, creating them largely from PNM strongholds.

− In the 2023 Local Government elections, the UNC was denied a victory in the Lengua/Indian Walk seat, because an EBC official did not properly sign the ballot which was clearly cast for the UNC.

− Staffing of the EBC remains a serious question. The opposition has opposed the appointment of Fern Narcis-Scope as CEO of the EBC due to her close ties to the PNM. In addition, many questions arise as to the employment of polling day staff.

− Pictorial evidence exists that ballot boxes for special votes were tampered with before counting the votes in the 2023 Local Government elections. However, the Chief Elections Officer, Mrs. Narcis-Scope, said investigations revealed that the two ballot boxes being not sealed does not impact the outcome of the election. This is outrageous.

− Similarly in the 2023 elections, the UNC also complained that the ballots cast at the Sangre Grande Police Station were not packaged according to the standard procedure so that the names of some electors could be viewed by the EBC staff who were sorting the votes. Mrs. Narcis-Scope said while there was a deviation from the approved procedure, this did not compromise the integrity of the process.

− Even last week, a new EBC Commissioner was appointed over the objections of the Leader of the Opposition.

In the meanwhile, in the face of election defeats to the UNC and the NAR in 1986, 1995, and 2000, the PNM in 2001 began a relentless attack on the EBC, including launching a Commission of Inquiry, as part of its wild and reckless claims of “voter padding”, which resulted in the national shaming of many innocent, ordinary UNC supporters, but no convictions. Twenty-eight (28) UNC supporters were charged in 2000, were forced to appear in court 30 times, and no evidence was ever presented. Their cases were thrown out in 2013. The obvious aim of the assault was to put the EBC firmly back under control of the PNM.

Interestingly, the only people who were ever charged for making false declarations to the EBC were two PNM supporters in 2007.

All this demonstrates that there are serious problems with the Elections and Boundaries Commission. Its new location being situated – without any consultation – in the constituency of irregularly anointed next Prime Minister, Stuart Young – just a stone’s throw from the PNM’s Balisier House – only raises further suspicions.

The Elections and Boundaries Commission needs serious reforms and overhauling. Stuart Young’s falsehoods only reinforce the necessity.

Dr. Kirk Meighoo
Public Relations Officer
United National Congress