How the changes proposed by the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) in its 2024 report may affect electorates and the general election scheduled for next year is still being assessed by those in the field of politics.
The report, which was laid in Parliament on April 12, proposed changes to the boundaries of several constituencies as well as five name changes to "minimise any confusion in the minds of the electorate."
The Delimitation of Constituencies Rules in the Second Schedule of the Constitution under section 72(1) said: the electorate in any constituency shall not be more than 110 per cent nor be less than 90 per cent of the total electorate of the island divided by the number of constituencies in that island.
In Trinidad, where all the adjustments were made, as determined from the annual list of electors which was published on November 30, 2023, the total electorate was 1,095,080, the permissible upper limit for each constituency was 30,887 and the permissible lower limit was 25,271.
Toco/Sangre Grande, D’Abadie/O’Meara, Caroni Central and Cumuto/Manzanilla were above the upper limit, while Port of Spain North/St Ann’s West, Port of Spain South, San Fernando East, San Fernando West and Pointe-a-Pierre, were below the lower limit.
Polling divisions were either given to or taken away from the nine, thereby affecting nearby constituencies including Tabaquite, La Horquetta/Talparo, Arouca/Maloney, Laventille West, Laventille East/Morvant, Oropouche East and Arima.
The report also proposed name changes to five constituencies on a phased basis. The constituency of Arouca/Maloney would be renamed Trincity/Maloney, D’Abadie/O’Meara to Malabar/Mausica, Lopinot/Bon Air West to Arouca/Lopinot, St Joseph to Aranguez/St Joseph and Pointe-a-Pierre to Claxton Bay.
United National Congress deputy political leader David Lee said the party was still studying the report in-depth to see how the changes could affect the party. The party is also evaluating whether there were significant shifts in the electorate numbers of UNC strongholds and marginal seats compared to the People’s National Movement.
However, as the sitting MP for Pointe-a-Pierre, he expressed concern about the proposed name change of his constituency to Claxton Bay.
“While we are happy for the identification of Claxton Bay, which is a great community, it is just one part of the entire Pointe-a-Pierre constituency. We were wondering about the rationale for not having a double name like the other proposed areas, something like Claxton Bay/ Pointe-a-Pierre.
“And if you wanted to do away with Pointe-a-Pierre, which we feel they shouldn’t, they could have said Claxton Bay/Marabella which would encompass both the north and south of Pointe-a-Pierre.”
He said the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery was at the centre of the area and he hoped the EBC was not trying to eliminate any negative associations with the PNM in the minds of the electorate.
“I don’t know, from a psychological point of view, if there is some political interference. Because when y
