Mark: Local elections on July 7

Both the Government and Opposition hope the upcoming local government elections, due by July, will be a verdict on the national government’s performance.

In three successive general elections, the PNM gradually increased in share of votes cast nationally over 2000, 2001 and 2002, but does the PNM still have this winning momentum? Or has the national government lost popularity such that electors register a protest vote against the ruling party’s local government candidates?  PNM candidate for Montrose in Chaguanas Borough Council, Etienne Mendez, said the local election will follow the last general election which had favoured the PNM. The PNM, he added, would further gain from the population having recently witnessed the party in government. UNC chairman Wade Mark disagreed. Citing CEPEP, Caroni (1975) Limited, crime, the Jamaat al Muslimeen, and  the proposed re-location of Parliament from the Red House, Mark said: “The population is very weary of this government. It is losing credibility.” So, with Trinidad’s regional councils evenly divided seven to seven between the ruling PNM and Opposition UNC after the 1999 local government elections, each party will be trying to tilt the balance in its favour.

The PNM now controls: Port-of-Spain (12 PNM seats to zero UNC) , San Fernando (7 PNM to 2UNC), Arima (7PNM to zeroUNC), Diego Martin (9PNM to zero UNC), San Juan/Laventille (7PNM to 2 UNC defected to National Team Unity), Tunapuna/Piarco (8PNM to 4UNC) and Point Fortin (5PNM to zero UNC). The UNC controls: Chaguanas (7UNC to 1PNM), Mayaro/Rio Claro (4UNC to 2PNM), Sangre Grande (4UNC to 3PNM), Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo (11UNC to zeroPNM), Siparia (4UNC to 4PNM, decided by ballot), Princes Town (9UNC to zeroPNM), and Penal/Debe (8UNC to zeroPNM). The councils most vulnerable to change are Sangre Grande and Siparia, both held by the UNC. PNM chairman, Martin Joseph, said candidates for most councils had been selected, with a few exceptions. In the Port-of-Spain City Council PNM candidates for two districts had not ben selected. Also candidates had not yet been chosen for two districts in San Fernando Borough Council, one district in the Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo Regional Council, one in Mayaro-Rio Claro Regional Corporation, one in Arima Borough Council and two in Diego Martin Regional Corporation.

UNC chairman, Wade Mark, said the party was about 90 percent finished wth its screening process. “The number of seats has been increased from 124 to 126 and we are contesting all. We have a few finishing touches for selection for San Juan/Laventille, Port-of-Spain, and Diego Martin and we ought to be completed by Friday. We have a first draft manifesto which we will publish in about two weeks time. We have a campaign committee under Chadresh Sharma and Dr Tim Gopeesingh.” The most marginal councils are Sangre Grande and Siparia. Won by four seats to three in 1999, in Sangre Grande the UNC had just barely won two of its seats, winning Manzanilla by just 14 votes and Sangre Grande North-East by 55 votes. In 1999 Siparia was tied four to four  with control of the council being decided by chance. The UNC is vulnerable in Apex/Fyzabad where it had a 149 margin, while the PNM is vulnerable in Siparia East/San Francique South which it won on a 86-vote margin. Mark said that the Opposition was expecting Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, to announce the election date on Friday, which they predicted would be held on Monday July 7.