Manning promises CARICOM team to oversee election

Prime Minister Patrick Manning told reporters Monday he will ask the CARICOM secretariat to send a team to oversee the May 24 general election.

He said he took the decision because "we want to make it absolutely clear that the elections are conducted in a free and fair manner. We want that certified by an outside body."

He said wants a CARICOM team because it is "becoming standard in the Caribbean and we endorse it." Manning said in 2007 a CARICOM team gave the election "a clean bill of health".

He added, "That is what they were there to do." He said he would soon contact CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington to make arrangements for the observer team.

Reporters wanted Manning to explain why Diego Martin West MP Keith Rowley didn't speak at Sunday's PNM rally in Port of Spain but he didn't have an answer. Instead he suggested that they direct the question to Rowley’s campaign manager, the Trinidad express reported.

UNC Chairman Jack Warner offered an answer when he spoke Monday night at a political meeting in St Joseph. He said Rowley refused to speak after cabinet minister Colm Imbert insisted on approving Rowley's speech.