High Court Deliberates Urgent Injunction to Halt Elections

At this hour, the High Court continues to deliberate on an urgent injunction that seeks to halt the elections until a redistricting exercise is conducted. The application was made yesterday by Jeremy Enriquez, through his attorney Anand Ramlogan. The injunction is not only seeking to block the elections, but also to direct Prime Minister John Briceno to revoke his advice to the Governor General on the dissolution of Parliament. The application also seeks to prevent the Governor General from issuing the writ of election, a move that has already been completed. It wasn’t until last night that the court agreed to hear the matter, assigning it to the High Court’s Justice Tawanda Hondora. Today, Senior Counsels Eamon Courtenay and Godfrey Smith arrived at the High Court on behalf of the Attorney General to respond to the application. Ramlogan argues that the elections will not be constitutional unless the redistricting exercise is carried out, citing concerns that the current system is outdated and unfair. However, Courtenay presented several arguments, pointing out that due to the separation of powers, the court cannot undo the dissolution of Parliament. He claims that even if the court were to bring Parliament back, there is insufficient time to complete the redistricting process before the elections. He also highlighted that any redistricting proposal could be voted down in Parliament, which would delay the process further. Courtenay contended that delaying elections would grant the Prime Minister undemocratic powers to remain in office beyond the five-year term. Secondly, Courtenay argued that Enriquez’s claims lacked constitutional grounds. He stated that Enriquez has a right to vote and that the secrecy of that vote is protected, but no law or constitutional requirement entitles him to be informed of when elections are called. He also suggested that the urgency of the injunction was questionable. Lastly, Courtenay emphasized that Enriquez had since 2020 to challenge the issue of redistricting but waited until now to bring it before the court, which he argued, was too late. While the court has yet to make a determination, this morning, Minister of the Public Service, Political and Constitutional Reform, Henry Charles Usher, weighed in on the situation and reiterated that efforts were made for redistricting. 

Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Public Service: “The matter is before the courts and the letter that was written by the attorney for Mr. Enriquez there were a number of offices that were addressing that letter, the office of the Governor General, the office of the Attorney General, the office of the Prime Minister, the office of the Election and Boundaries Commission, and each of those offices have their attorneys to represent them. And I think that it’s important for them to be the ones looking at the legal side of this issue. What I can say is that the issues that are being brought forward have already been adjudicated in claim 55 of 2019. It’s the very same issues that are being brought up. And we have to understand that the Election of Boundaries Commission as it is mandated by the Constitution did carry out a redistricting exercise. They did present a report. That report was tabled in the House, an accompanying bill was tabled in Parliament. It is at the House Committee. So it’s not as if this government has not done anything. It’s not as if the Election and Boundaries Commission had not done its work. What I do find interesting is that the claimants in this particular case are utilizing a foreign agent almost at the very last minute to frustrate the will of the people and I think that is what we have to understand. Also if the media would look at the letter, what is the address that this particular attorney is using? Guava Street in the Belama area. The person who has a law firm at that same address was formerly the commissioner or the chairman of the Election and Boundaries Commission. Right? It’s the same person who was the chairman of the Election and Boundaries Commission in a UDP administration. They did absolutely nothing to look at redistricting. And now they’re bringing in a foreign agent, one with a dubious record as well. I don’t know, just look it up. Just look it up. All you have to do is plug in the name in any search engine and you will see his name come up in Trinidad. And I’m thinking that why is it at this very last minute, they’re trying to frustrate the will of the people. But I’ll leave it at that.”

Just after six o’clock this evening, the redistricting court matter was adjourned.  There was no interim order granted as both parties need to hand in written submissions by close of business on Friday. Additionally, the Elections and Boundaries Commission has been granted leave to intervene in the proceedings by making its submissions, if any, by Monday.  A ruling on this case is expected to be delivered sometime next week.