Caribbean & Central America - September 2014 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Trinidad & Tobago’s People’s Partnership (PP) government led by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is entering its final year in office, with elections due by September 2015. In preparation for this contest, the prime minister has been pushing through controversial constitutional changes, including provisions for runoff elections in constituencies where the winner has not received 50% of the vote.

The proposals were approved on 28 August by 18-12 votes in the 31-member senate (where the government has 16 senators including the senate president who does not vote) and by 23 votes to 14 in the 41-member lower chamber on 12 August. However the process has proven controversial, with the main opposition People’s National Movement (PNM), led by Dr Keith Rowley, vehemently opposed to the changes, particularly the provision for runoff elections. Initially the proposal was that the runoffs would include the two leading parties who failed to secure 50% of the vote – prompting fears among the PNM that third-party voters would be more likely to switch to the PP’s predominant party, the United National Congress (UNC), in any runoff than to the PNM. However a change introduced prior to the senate vote establishes that a third party candidate may participate if they win at least 25% of the vote or are within a margin of not less than five percentage points of the second-placed candidate.

The final version of the bill passed by the senate also included a provision for constituencies to recall non-performing MPs although an amendment was accepted to raise the threshold from 10% to 20% for a recall application to be approved by the Elections and Boundaries Commission. Meanwhile two-thirds of the constituents must support the recall petition before an MP can be recalled. Other constitutional changes include a provision for prime ministers to serve only two terms, and a restriction on the prime minister’s right to set the date of an election.

The opposition has not held back in its criticism of the changes. During the parliamentary debate on the bill in mid-August, Rowley argued that the runoff proposal would produce political chaos and corruption. He said that it would allow for 15 days of “electioneering and campaigning” after a general election while parties awaited for the results of the runoff polls, warning that: “It creates the environment for bribery, splurging and chaos to try and change the results”.

One of the fiercest critics of the runoff proposal was Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, a former attorney general (1996-2001) and former UNC MP (2007-2010), who has said that it is a means for the government to ensure victory in 2015. He said: “This is a gimmick, a device to do fraud to steal from the people of Trinidad & Tobago the results of the elections…The only reasonable inference and implications to be drawn is that the government knows that on the basis of the present rules and laws, it cannot win the next general elections.”

Where the public stands on all this is confused. A Mori poll released ahead of the 26 August debate in the senate suggested that 55% of the public agreed with constitutional change in principle. On the other hand, a poll commissioned by the Trinidad Express newspaper, and conducted by Market, Facts & Opinions (MFO), found that 85% wanted more consultation with the public before the changes are implemented. This latter finding chimes with one of the main points made by Ramesh Maharaj, namely that the consultation process did not include any discussion of the proposal for runoff elections.

• Appeals

Maharaj and other opponents have not given up and are hoping to block the constitutional changes with an appeal to the Privy Council. On 29 August the Independent Liberal Party (ILP), the party founded in 2013 by disgraced former security minister Jack Warner (2012-2013), filed a constitutional appeal against the approved law.