Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley says the People’s National Movement will resist any move by the Government to delay the local government elections. Rowley made the comment during a radio interview with I95.5FM yesterday, as he responded to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s announcement that a request was made by United National Congress (UNC) councillors to delay the elections. The Opposition leader yesterday dismissed her statement as he accused Persad-Bissessar of being politically insecure. “The Prime Minister must call the local government elections so that we can elect local government bodies,” Rowley said. “After all her grand-charging that elections will be called because elections are due, she is now having a change of heart after her humiliating defeat at the Chaguanas West (by-election.) She is looking for a reason to postpone the elections.” The Prime Minister indicated that following the request at a meeting of the party’s parliamentary arm on Wednesday, she would be engaging in discussions to determine whether the elections should be delayed.
However, yesterday, Rowley said: “She will be breaking the law if she fails to go to the polls. The law requires that the local government elections be held 90 days after the end of July so I don’t know what all of this is about.” He said if there is to be any change to the law governing local government, “that has to be handled separately and apart of the requirement of the law.” “We will not be deceived and diverted from that. The Prime Minister must comply with the law and call the elections. What I expect to hear from the Prime Minister is an announcement of the date of the local government elections, which is due under the law,” he said. Rowley also took issue with Persad-Bissessar’s statement that request to delay the elections came from UNC councilors. “There is no such thing as UNC councillors. There are no councillors in Trinidad at this point in time. Their term has expired since July, so there is no council and there should be no councillors asking for a postponement of elections,” he declared. Rowley said any delay in the elections would be an attempt by the Prime Minister to avoid a defeat at the polls. “Her political difficulty now does not trump the requirement of the law. She is trying to escape going to the polls because they are panicked by the Chaguanas West election results,” he said.
Meanwhile, former House Speaker Nizam Mohammed said any delay of local government elections by the People’s Partnership Government would be tantamount to an abuse of authority. Mohammed, speaking with the T&T Guardian in a brief telephone interview yesterday, said the Prime Minister gave a commitment to the country and if she were to change that she would have “to advance compelling reasons.” “It is obvious that the politicians in government are afraid of the possibility of a third consecutive defeat, but it is the self-serving ministers who have brought this upon themselves,” he said. “It is an abuse of authority and it is evident that the UNC is now panicking after so many blunders. “To say that the former councillors are asking for this is tantamount to the tail wagging the dog and is clearly an attempt to play political games. The population should not settle for anything other than the due date for the elections.” Mohammed, like Rowley, believes that delaying local government elections is a political tactic. He said: “None of the reasons advanced by the Prime Minister are sufficiently cogent. It is simply political manipulation after the shock defeat of the UNC in the recent Chaguanas West by-election.” The prominent attorney, however, said the Government had a majority and they would use their majority in the Parliament to have their way.