The Elec­tion and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion (EBC) has re­quest­ed the pres­ence of more po­lice of­fi­cers than usu­al for the Au­gust 10 gen­er­al elec­tion, to help en­force so­cial dis­tanc­ing guide­lines.

This formed part of a dis­cus­sion be­tween the EBC and the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) yes­ter­day, a UNC state­ment said.

“The in­ten­tion by the EBC to re­view all polling sta­tions to en­sure the lo­ca­tions are large enough to ac­com­mo­date vot­ers and elec­tion day staff while fol­low­ing the so­cial dis­tanc­ing guide­lines was al­so raised,” the state­ment said.

The UNC added that its con­tin­gent dis­cussed, for the sec­ond time, sev­er­al key elec­tion is­sues with the EBC.

It said among them was the ad­just­ed pro­ce­dures in light of COVID-19 and the treat­ment of cit­i­zens who are in quar­an­tine to be treat­ed as spe­cial vot­ers.

“The team al­so dis­cussed the new guide­lines of wear­ing a mask and san­i­tiz­ing be­fore vot­ing al­though they can­not pre­vent any­one with­out a mask from vot­ing. The UNC team be­lieves in ad­her­ing to these guide­lines to keep every­one safe dur­ing this time as we pre­pare to re­turn good gov­er­nance to Trinidad and To­ba­go,” the state­ment said.

The UNC said that it re­mains com­mit­ted to free and fair elec­tions for all and for the elec­tions to re­flect the true will of the peo­ple.

It said the par­ty will con­tin­ue to work with the EBC as the coun­try draws clos­er to the polling day.