Laurel loses Arima to COP

Samuel, a candidate of the Congress of the People (COP), which was one of five political parties which merged together for the People’s Partnership, caused a huge upset last night as he was one of 30 successful candidates of the victorious People’s Partnership, as of 11 o’clock, according to the results carried live on TV6.

Samuel amassed 12,582 votes, with Lezama-Lee Sing claiming 12,005 and Justin Gibbs of the New National Movement (NNV) getting 321 votes.

Samuel, according to his profile on the COP website, has a Bachelors of Arts in Christian Training and has served as a pastor for over two decades, with the Christian Restoration Centre.

Lezama-Lee Sing was a controversial choice to contest the seat for the PNM, replacing the popular Penelope Beckles, who was the previous sitting MP since 2001. The 28-year-old former Senator was listed, on the PNM’s website, as a writing consultant who was an ex-chairman of the party’s Youth League.

The last time the Arima seat was captured by a non-PNM candidate was in 1986 with school teacher Gloria Thomasos-Pollard of the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) emerging victorious.