Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has expressed concerns over the call from the Chairman of the Election and Boundaries Commission (EBC) for people who have changed their addresses to update their registration.The elections chief said "large numbers of voters" have moved to different parts of the country because of the government's and private sector's accelerated housing policy.
"I am gravely concerned that the situation...may be used by Patrick Manning to further delay the holding of a local government election," she said.
"The population has already been denied its right for several consecutive years and the government must be well aware of how anxious voters are to voice their discontent with...the Manning administration," the UNC leader said.
She also spoke about concerns that her party has over the allocation of homes in various government developments.
"We have long expressed our concern...voter padding where supporters are taken from one stronghold of the party and transferred via government housing into marginal constituencies to prop up their support in those areas," she noted.
"The EBC’s acknowledgement of the migration of large numbers due to government housing projects affirms our fears.
"We trust, therefore, that the EBC is putting in place mechanisms for investigating the legitimacy of this migration of voters to determine the existence of any deliberate manipulation of the numbers of ruling party supporters being shifted from one area to the next to influence the outcome of an election in that party’s favour," she said.
"The EBC is the watchdog of the people’s democracy and as such is accountable for any delay in the holding of an election which its failure to carry out its duties diligently and without fear or favour could produce."
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