Jan 15 is Nomination Day for UNC internal election

The United National Congress has circulated the terms of reference for its Jan. 24, 2010 internal election, which states that Nomination Day for the vote will be January 15, 2010.

The election will supervised by the party's Election Management Committee that would be responsible for:

• validating nomination forms submitted and announcing the candidates for the respective positions
• Sourcing, securing and allocating personnel and necessary resources for the efficient and fair conduct of the election on polling day
• Arranging for training election personnel
• Securing all ballots, ballot boxes and all other election material prior to, during and at the close of polling
• Securing ballots for seven days after polling day for requests of recounts and for other requests if necessary
• Announcing preliminary results of the election within 24 hours of the close of poll and after 3 days from the close of polls in the event of any recount
• Conducting the elections in accordance with the Constitution of the party and approved regulations.

The party will accept application for membership for the election until Dec. 18, 2009 and it has set Christmas day as the deadline for approving the membership applications.

It plans to publish the provisional list of eligible electors by January 2, 2010 to give everyone an opportunity to check them and lodge complaints, if necessary, up to January 6.

It plans to circulate a revised list of electors to constituencies by January 12 in preparation for nomination day on January 15.

The UNC says the Provisional Membership listing will be available for inspection either at offices of its Members of Parliament, constituency offices, the party's headquarters at the Rienzi complex, Couva and "other offices as determined and approved" by the national executive.

Any member of the party can contest the election if she or he meets the established criteria, which include a provision that the prospective candidate must be a financial member for at least one year, be 18 years and over and a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago.

It addition the person should not have been convicted or be under pending charges for any election offence or crime involving fraud/dishonesty.

The person should also be registered with the Elections and Boundaries Commission as an elector and should not be the subject of any pending disciplinary charges in the party.

All members who are registered at Dec. 18 and Life Members are eligible to vote.

On voting day, the person's name must be on the list and he or she must produce identification in the form of a T&T Identification Card, Passport or Drivers Permit.
It has waived the rule of having a valid party membership card.