The Court of Appeal will give its ruling on the United National Congress (UNC) election petitions at 3 pm today.
After hearing submissions in the appeal over the past two and a half days, Chief Justice Ivor Archie and Appellate Judges Allan Mendonca and Peter Jamadar stood down the case a short while ago for two hours to deliberate on a decision.
The move by the court to deliver a judgment within hours of the compeltion of the case is rare as almost always the Court of Appeal reserves its decision for several weeks.
Explaining the reason for the speedy outcome in the case, Archie explained that the Constitution requires that election petitions be dealt with expeditiously.
In its appeal the UNC is challenging the decison of High Court Judge Mira Dean-Armorer to dismiss their petitions in August.
While Dean-Armorer agreeded with the UNC that the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) acted illegally when it decided to extend last year general election in Trinidad by one hour due to heavy rainfall, she said the election result would have remained the same if all the votes cast during the election were to be subtracted from the votes obtained by the sucessful candidates.
In its appeal, the UNC is seeking the court to overturn Dean-Armorer's decision and order by-elections in the five marginal constituencies being challenged- Tunapuna, St Joseph, Toco/Sangre Grande, San Fernando East and Moruga/Tableland.
The EBC also filed a cross appeal in which it asked the court to rule that it did in fact have the power to adjust the hours of the poll in emergency circumstances.