Duke charged up for THA election

Duke seems fully charged up and energised on the campaign trail, swinging at the People’s National Movement (PNM). We will have to wait and see if the new axe of the PDP, chipping away at the mighty 60-year-old PNM, will be enough to win this election.

The fascinating thing about campaigns of this nature is the strategic approach by parties based on specific circumstances.

For any political science student, this THA election will definitely shed some light on the implementation of political marketing campaign strategies.

The PNM is currently the totalitarian title-holder of all 12 seats in the THA. The party has the budget to run a full-scale election campaign and this is coupled with incumbency.

Additional variables include the control of central government, control of local government, a new political leader in Tobago, and a stalled national economy.

All these variables combined at any rate is usually a conclusively favourable position for a political party contesting an election.

The election campaign resembles the 2013 PNM campaign when it won all 12 seats with a remix of the then flagship song “PNM coming”. The reality is that this campaign is not set in the same circumstances as 2013 so the same approach will not yield the same results. Pollsters, analysts, stakeholders and members of the PNM would all admit that another 12-0 victory is out of the question this time around but the PNM is still tipped to win.

Duke is using his currency as Public Services Association president to tell Tobagonians he will “fight for a better Tobago.” The PDP is committing to make all employees working over seven years permanent, building 1,700 homes and lobbying the Government to increase the Tobago entitlement from the average low of 4.3 percent to the maximum 6.9 percent. Duke claims Tobago lost $18.215 billion because of the low allocation received over the past 16 years of the PNM THA.

The “countryman”, as he was recently labelled by the PNM, has employed the best political marketing campaign strategy when low on campaign funds.

This strategy is to directly call out your opponent and use every form of free press available to plead your case.

The people of Tobago will decide if Duke being charged up is enough to energise the electorate to vote for the PDP instead of the PNM.

Ronald Huggins St Joseph