The Caribbean Com­mu­ni­ty (Cari­com) has ac­cept­ed the in­vi­ta­tion by the Gov­ern­ment to send elec­tion ob­servers to this coun­try for the up­com­ing gen­er­al elec­tion.

Ac­cord­ing to the Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Min­istry, Cari­com Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al, Dr Car­la Bar­nett, in a let­ter to Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley dat­ed Jan­u­ary 13, said, “The Cari­com Sec­re­tari­at is ful­ly pre­pared to un­der­take the nec­es­sary ad­min­is­tra­tive arrange­ments for the de­ploy­ment of a Cari­com Elec­tion Ob­ser­va­tion Team to Trinidad and To­ba­go when­ev­er we re­ceive fur­ther in­for­ma­tion re­gard­ing the sched­ul­ing of the elec­tions.”

In the Low­er House, on De­cem­ber 9, 2024, Prime Min­is­ter Row­ley an­nounced he wrote to the Cari­com Sec­re­tari­at re­quest­ing an ob­serv­er del­e­ga­tion to T&T when­ev­er the elec­tion takes place. The cor­re­spon­dence was sent on De­cem­ber 11, last year. 

Last Sep­tem­ber, Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar said she wrote to Row­ley ask­ing for “in­de­pen­dent, in­ter­na­tion­al elec­tion ob­servers” to be brought in for the gen­er­al elec­tion.

In her re­sponse let­ter, Bar­nett re­port­ed­ly said, “We are ho­n­oured to sup­port the Gov­ern­ment of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go and all Mem­ber States hold­ing elec­tions in 2025, in con­tin­ued ef­forts to up­hold democ­ra­cy, the rule of law and good gov­er­nance with­in the Caribbean Com­mu­ni­ty. We will do so to the best of our abil­i­ties.”