Eliz­a­beth Gon­za­les

Se­nior Re­porter

The Elec­tions and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion (EBC) says it is ready for the To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly elec­tion, which is ex­pect­ed to be called soon.

EBC CEO Fern Nar­cis told Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day that prepara­to­ry work has al­ready be­gun as the As­sem­bly’s term ex­pires on De­cem­ber 6.

When asked whether the com­mis­sion had start­ed prepa­ra­tions for the up­com­ing poll, Nar­cis replied, “Yes, we have start­ed some train­ing. That is for the prospec­tive re­turn­ing of­fi­cers. That train­ing ex­er­cise has al­ready been un­der­tak­en.”

Asked if the EBC was ready to is­sue writs, she said that could not hap­pen un­til the As­sem­bly was dis­solved and dates were con­firmed.

“… the THA has to be dis­solved, and the writs will on­ly be is­sued when we have the dates for the elec­tion and nom­i­na­tion date,” she ex­plained. “So, there can be no writ at this time.”

She was al­so asked about the sta­tus of the elec­toral list and on­go­ing vot­er reg­is­tra­tion.

“Dur­ing any elec­tion, we have a pe­ri­od of elec­toral reg­is­tra­tion where per­sons who wish to come on the list who re­side in To­ba­go would be able to do so. So, of course, at the end of that, that’s when we gen­er­ate the re­vised list of elec­tors, and that’s when we would know ex­act­ly how many elec­tors would be able to par­tic­i­pate in the elec­tion.”

Nar­cis said that the EBC was in a con­stant state of readi­ness.

“And al­so ap­pre­ci­ate that the THA is falling al­most on the heels of a gen­er­al elec­tion, so that there would have been some prepara­to­ry work that has al­ready been done for that elec­tion that, of course, is rel­e­vant in this elec­tion as well,” she said.

“So, we are ready. And the prepa­ra­tions, or cer­tain­ly those things that would en­gage the no­tice of the pub­lic, you will start to see short­ly once the elec­tion is an­nounced.”

In the 2021 THA elec­tion, the Pro­gres­sive De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Pa­tri­ots won 14 of the 15 seats, leav­ing the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment with one.

The EBC record­ed 51,383 reg­is­tered vot­ers and 29,273 bal­lots cast, rep­re­sent­ing a 57 per cent turnout.

The PNM has al­ready com­plet­ed its screen­ing process and has se­lect­ed all 15 can­di­dates.

Mean­while, the To­ba­go Peo­ple’s Par­ty is ex­pect­ed to start screen­ing nom­i­nees soon.

The In­no­v­a­tive De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Al­liance said it was in the process of screen­ing and se­lect­ing can­di­dates.