Chairman of the T&T Debates Commission (TTDC) Andrew Sabga wants all the political parties which qualify to take part in the forthcoming Leaders Election Debate.
But if for some reason Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar cannot participate, he says, the debate will take place on August 20 and 27 as planned.
"It is our intention to secure with all parties," Sabga said during a press conference at the T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Westmoorings, yesterday.
"We are going back to our original criteria that have been accepted by most of the participants and we will stick to that criteria and our approach will be based on international best practice. We will stick to that and we are hopeful we will get all players to take part.
"Once they qualify they are welcome to participate, but it needs to be clear that it is the leader only and not his or her deputy and not an assigned individual. It is the leader of the party that must participate on August 20 and 27."
When asked if the debate would take place without the PM, Sabga replied by saying once there were two or more parties that qualified the debate would go on.
He listed two criteria under which parties or alliances could qualify: political parties must be contesting at least 21 seats or they must have polled a favourable vote of at least 12.5 per cent in the last two national polls conducted prior to nomination day.
He also said following nomination day the commission would be in a position to indicate which parties or alliances qualified and would then formally invite leaders of those entities to be part of the debate, adding this should be no later than August 7.
The agreed format will be a moderated event with a single moderator who will be putting to the candidates questions derived from a team of panellists. In addition to the moderator, a panel of four eminent people knowledgeable about local politics and the social and economic environment, who are nationals of T&T, will determine the questions beforehand and those will be kept confidential until the questions are put to the debaters.
Sabga said while the names of panellists have not been made public, the commission has already commenced discussions with interested parties to seek agreement on the moderator and once confirmed the public would be advised.
"We have made much progress since our launch in May of this year [with] the 2015 Leaders Election Debate," he said.
No consensus on July 27
Yesterday, Larry Lalla, spokesperson for the People's Partnership, sent out a media release saying he did not have confidence in the TTDC and he had accepted CNMG's proposal to hold a debate on July 30.
Responding to this, Sabga said the TTDC was the only "credible" option at this time to hold such a debate. He also said they had engaged Lalla and in their discussions there was no consensus for a July 30 date for the debate. He said the talk of July dates originated from the People's Partnership.
"In our discussions with Mr. Lalla, he had proposed four dates in the month of July, that is four Mondays. We chose the last Monday if it would have been possible but we all know the sensitivity of July 27," he said.
"Mr. Lalla also had conditions for that date to come about. We tried to secure consensus from all sides who had already agreed to the August date. It was difficult to get them to shift."
Sabga said he understood that the "stakes are very high" in this election.
"This is a very tight and heated election. We are trying our best to remain neutral at all times. Independence is something [from which] we will not waiver," he said.