Members of the Commonwealth Observer Group are on the ground today to evaluate the fairness and transparency of Trinidad and Tobago’s 2025 parliamentary elections.
Emphasising that “democracy is a work in progress,” Chairperson of the Commonwealth Observer Group, Evarist Bartolo, clarified their role.
“The name shows it is an observer group. It does not go to countries to conduct elections, or to tell them what to do without understanding what is going on. So, you go before, you try to find out how the landscape is, you prepare for it, then you’re actually observing what is going on, and then we carry out our assessment and make our report.”
With teams deployed all over Trinidad and Tobago to observe everything from pre-poll procedures, professionalism, demographics, to the accessibility and organisation at polling stations, the Observer Group shared some positive initial reports.
“So far, we’ve had an opportunity to observe the opening at Queen’s Royal College and, from what we’ve seen, the pre-poll procedures were followed meticulously, the management of the queues, that went smoothly and the overall environment at the polling station seems to be quite smooth and things running smoothly, voters being directed to where they are supposed to go and no issues so far. Nothing. And we hope that throughout the day, this is what carries through.”
The report from Commonwealth Observer Group will be made available to the government and other stakeholders in the coming weeks and to the public thereafter.