Story by SHARLENE RAMPERSAD
Chief Election Officer, Fern Narcis-Scope, says the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) has received several requests for recounts in marginal constituencies.
She gave the confirmation in an interview with Guardian Media shortly after 11 am on Tuesday.
Narcis-Scope said the request for the recount of Tobago East was made by Watson Duke, political leader of the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PD).
According to preliminary results, the People’s National Movement (PNM) incumbent Ayana Webster-Roy got 4,970 votes, while Duke received 3,999 votes.
Narcis-Scope said she has not been officially informed as to which political party has requested recounts in the marginals. However, she said the political leader of the United National Congress (UNC), Kamla Persad-Bissessar, had already signalled her intention to request recounts in several marginal constituencies.
The EBC CEO confirmed that the recounts will begin at 3 pm on Tuesday, but she could not say when those results would be available. She explained that candidates can either request recounts of certain polling stations only or recounts of all the polling stations in the constituency.