Importance of election observers

Members of the Caricom election observer mission advance team: Irvin Brown, Shae-Alicia Lewis, deputy chief Dora James, chief Ian Hughes, Angella Prendergast and Serojnie Seetaram. - Photo by Paula Lindo

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DESPITE the general absence of major issues in past elections, the early request of former prime minister Dr Rowley to Caricom and the Commonwealth to deploy an independent observer presence in the April 28 election was sound and sensible. The opposition had made repeated calls for independent observers.
In all, three requests were made by the sitting government for election observers, with missions from Caricom and the Commonwealth. The Carter Center was unable to deploy a mission.
Both missions have been active since arriving in the country. In its first two days on the ground, the Caricom observer mission had met with the UNC, the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), the Prime Minister, the PNM, the NTA and civil society groups as an opening act.
The eight-member Caricom team is led by Ian Hughes, the supervisor of elections in Antigua and Barbuda.
The Commonwealth observers are led by Evarist Bartolo, former foreign affairs minister for Malta and includes Guyanese journalist Nazima Raghubir.


The teams began their familiarisation discussions with representatives of political parties and the EBC, as well as the media, soon after their arrival in TT.
Already, a minor hiccup involving a voting box for special voters in San Fernando East caused enough concern that international bodies overseeing the electoral process would provide useful assurances that this country's normal voting process accurately reflects the will of its electorate.
The UNC has taken its running concerns about the EBC to mission observers who have been measured in their responses.
The two observer missions will formulate their own strategies for observing the 12 hours allocated for voting, but they have a lot of ground to cover.
The Aranguez/St Joseph electoral district alone has 19 separate polling stations, and larger, more sparsely populated districts will have polling stations established at some distance from each other.
This is a hotly contested election. While much of the most visible fire has been brought to the campaign by the sitting PNM and opposition UNC, a total of 161 candidates have offered themselves to voters across 17 political parties, though five parties are represented by a single candidate and three are independents.
In this electoral space, there is a brewing storm of disinformation, vandalism, and political dirty tricks, but it is the polling process, the procedures at voting booths, and the tabulation of votes that are paramount on Monday.
Election observer missions normally operate when the electoral process is considered credible and sound. The impact of observers and their eventual report is nuanced and subtle.
Observers cannot see everything, but they will offer a perspective that is unequivocally untainted by party affiliation or loyalty, and their reports will be an important addition to the 2025 election.


The presence of independent observers providing oversight underlines this country's commitment to a fair, transparent democratic process. (Source: Newsday, April 26, 2025)