UNC deputy political leader and Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner has sent a letter to chairman of the UNC Elections Committee complaining to Kemchan Ramdath about "abuse and disrespect" of the rules and guidelines for the party’s January 24 internal elections. Warner expressed "grave disappointment, dissatisfaction and concern" over what he called "the flippant and frivolous manner in which the rules and guidelines for the Internal Election on the UNC are being abused and disrespected."
He had previously written Ramdath about irregularities on the appointment of Returning Officers but now he is raising issues about pre-election preparation dates in the manual.
In his letter Saturday he complained about the arbitrary change of the date of posting provisional lists of members who are eligible to vote. According to the rules for the vote the lists should have been available for scrutiny by Saturday.
However he noted that that has now been changed re-scheduled to 6:00 pm on Tuesday January 5, 2010.
"The National Executive (NATEX) is the body that approved these dates and rules and yet, at no point in time was the Natex consulted on the change of dates or on the reasons for such change," he noted.
Warner asked Ramdath to explain why was there a need to change such an important date.
"Surely your Committee and others have been outfitted with all the manpower and resources to get the job done on time. Such an important decision in fact, is also one that should have been made by the entire NATEX which should have convened an emergency session for this purpose," he said.
He is demanded "concrete reasons...for this postponement" adding that, "This arbitrary decision to change such an important date was therefore an abuse of the process and an affront to the conduct of a free and fair elections."
He said the change of date "has effectively thrown all election preparations into disarray, since the timeline of events, such as receiving objections to the list and filing nominations based on registered members have all been adversely affected."
He advised Ramdath that important changes without the executive's approval are no acceptable.
"Without prejudice to my rights in this matter which are wholly and strictly reserved, I do call for an immediate meeting with your Committee and my representatives to discuss this.
"I also call for an immediate meeting of the NATEX to discuss these irregularities. I do so by sending this correspondence to the members of the NATEX," his letter stated.
He also raised the issue of inconsistencies in the distribution of the lists by electronic means noting that there is the possibility of multiple CDs being produced with conflicting numbers of actual members.
"As such, I call upon you to deliver not only electronic copies but a hard printed copy with a covering note from you certifying it to be the membership list of the UNC.
"We must be assured that the list is authenticated and validated by the Chairman of the Elections Committee... No one must be allowed to flout our rules, to disrespect them or to abuse them. We must remain true and faithful to the traditions of our great party; one that boasts of openness, fairness, equality, justice and integrity," Warner said.
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