Simmons also asked Robinson if he was aware that SOPO had planned a kind of informal referendum for July 27, 1990. Simmons said SOPO had obtained advice from the opposition party and the Elections and Boundaries Commission and people were advised to refrain from going to work and to come out in a show of voting power. Probed about the security of T&T at the time, Robinson said: "I would have expected that some members of the Police Service favoured the opposition party and in so doing found themselves in line with the Muslims." He said this could have been a factor why the Muslimeen was able to storm Parliament undetected.