What PNM La Horquetta/Talparo general election candidate Maxie Cuffie is calling voter intimidation is simply a teleforum election strategy used by politicians all over the world, says the UNC's campaign team.Cuffie claimed he received several complaints of voter intimidation from constituents of La Horquetta/Talparo who said they are being called on their personal cell phones by someone with a voice purporting to be that of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
The voice invited constituents to participate in a telephone conference call to discuss the general election and said she will be joined by the area's MP Jairam Seemungal.Cuffie said his constituents complained about these intrusive calls from the UNC campaign team and questioned how their personal numbers were obtained.
He charged it was voter intimidation.UNC's campaign manager, Rodney Charles said Cuffie's charges were "absolute nonsense". He said voter intimidation is unheard of in the 21st century."This is something the UNC would never, ever do.Charles said the PM held a teleforum recently and invited citizens the previous day to participate.
"There was no intimidation. People could have only participated if they wanted to."Broadnet, an international company which facilitates the open exchange of ideas by enabling real time, personal and efficient conversations with any number of people, from hundreds to millions, organised the teleforum for the PM.
Broadnet posted on Facebook they were "honored to have hosted Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar on a live TeleForum town hall last night.""She spoke with thousands of Trinidadians over the phone while hundreds of others streamed the event live on their mobile device, tablet, or laptop," Broadnet said.
On a Facebook post, the PM herself said of the Teleforum, "Last night, we held our first conference call and thousands of individuals participated from across our country."In fact, so many people wanted to participate we could not have everyone on the line at once."I would like to thank you so very much for taking the time out of your evening to listen in and ask questions.
"If you did not have the opportunity to participate last night, we will be doing many, many more calls like this and you will have the chance to join us in future."According to Broadnet, this is a legal election strategy used by prime ministers all over the world."Broadnet is honored to have powered each of US Senator Ron Johnson's 40 telephone town hall events, beginning in March of 2011."
Another Broadnet Web posting said, "Join the call with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and voters all around the country on Saturday morning. Register your interest and we'll send you an email with the details and instructions on how to join the call."Cuffie said it was intimidation when someone, especially a public servant, gets a call from the ruling party asking if you were willing to vote for them.
You become intimidated and fearful."Cuffie said he heard of similar complaints from other constituencies. Told that, so far, the complaints are only coming from PNM supporters who are reporting to their candidates, he said, "UNC supporters are probably getting them too but are not complaining."
Cuffie also said his constituents were complaining they were being given the impression by people at the UNC constituency office in La Horquetta/Talparo that technology can find out how they voted in the last election.Questioned about this, he admitted, "That's not possible."But he insisted, "They could be given that impression."