Tobagonians vote today

Yesterday, thousands of Tobagonians wore their party’s colour (either yellow for the TOP or red for the PNM) as they drove the length of the island in the final motorcades which, up to press time, were incident free. Several residents have dubbed this election the “closest” that they have seen in years, noting that it “can go either way”. However, a NACTA poll on the weekend predicted a victory for the ruling PNM.

TOP Political Leader Ashworth Jack’s message of change has been compared by his supporters with that of the “change you can believe in” mantra of Barack Obama, who tomorrow will be sworn in as America’s 44th President and its first non-white Commander in Chief.

However, Orville London who heads the PNM-led THA administration has urged Tobagonians to “continue the progress towards prosperity”. Twenty-five candidates; twelve each for the PNM and the TOP and one Independent candidate; have offered themselves up for elections of which voters have to choose twelve to form the 2009/2013 THA administration. The PNM has dropped two of its stalwarts, Cynthia Alfred and Aldington Spencer and added Carl Alleyne and Nathisha Charles-Pantin. Alleyne will replace Alfred as the candidate for the Bacolet/ Mt St George seat while Charles-Pantin will run against TOP Political Leader Ashworth Jack for the Mason Hall/Providence/Moriah seat.

The Bacolet/ Mt St George seat appears to be the hottest seat in the elections as Independent candidate, Andre Phillips, has thrown his hat into the ring with Alleyne and the TOP’s Orville Jordan.

Some 42,627 residents, an increase of 4,019 from the 2005 THA elections, are eligible to vote at 62 polling stations across the island, manned by 250 Polling Day staff members.

However, according to Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) figures, only 54 percent of registered voters bothered to exercise their “civic right to vote” in the 2005 elections. Polls close at six o’clock this evening and it is expected that from as early as 9 pm, enough votes could be counted to show whether the TOP will top the PNM or the ruling party, succeeds in its attempt at a three-peat. (See Page 13A)