Heads of the various Elections and Boundaries bodies throughout the Commonwealth have been urged to always bear in mind the importance of transparency, accountability and accuracy in electoral administration.
T&T’s chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), Mark Ramkerrysingh, gave this advice during the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Electoral Network (CEN) Biennial Conference, which was held on Wednesday at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain.
Ramkerrysingh also stressed on the ethical behaviour of key players, which, he said, all contribute to gaining, maintaining and enhancing credibility in the electoral process.
“Elections by themselves are not sufficient to constitute a truly representative democracy but there can be no truly representative democracy without elections. Genuine and credible elections are therefore a cornerstone of our various constitutions,” Ramkerrysingh said.
“The means to safeguard electoral integrity therefore should be enshrined within the legal framework for elections; implemented through the institutional structure; and administered competently and impartially by election management bodies and other authorities involved in election administration,” he added.
Ramkerrysingh said he believes that an active and educated electorate, effective and responsible political parties and candidates, and objective national and international election observation in turn strengthen the official safeguards of electoral integrity.
With regards to T&T, he said, the EBC has successfully conducted elections with the highest probity and transparency.
He said several regional and international election observer missions who were invited to monitor our electoral procedures could have attested this to.
Ramkerrysingh also paid tribute to the contribution of the former chairman of the EBC Dr Norbert Masson.
“Throughout his tenure until his retirement in 2015, Dr Masson worked tirelessly to implement several policy directives that have improved our electoral processes and which will serve the EBC well in the future,” he said.
During the conference, Ramkerrysingh said he expects that there shall be further defining of electoral standards by advancing commonwealth principles for good electoral practice.
“The network promotes good practice in managing elections, facilitates peer-to-peer exchanges of experience and fosters the community of Commonwealth electoral management bodies,” he said.
Commonwealth Deputy Secretary General, Dr Josephine Ojiambo, in her opening remarks, said lifting the quality and strengthening the relevance of its election management bodies is a continuing work in progress.
In the Commonwealth, Ojiambo disclosed that increased focus is placed on the quality of electoral processes and institutions.
Election observation work is one of its brand strengths.
Ojiambo noted that more than 130 observer groups have been sent to elections since 1990.
She also noted that in a continued attempt to raise governance standards, there needs to be a conscious need to follow up the recommendations of election observers.
“Their reports are intended to support your work and we would therefore welcome your thoughts on how to make further progress in this regard,” Ojiambo said.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley was mentioned in the official programme to deliver remarks at the event, however, he failed to show.
There was no mention of his absence or no apology for his absence given on his behalf.