NAR will not split over UNC

NATIONAL Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) Political Leader Lennox Sankersingh yesterday insisted that the party would not break up over plans to continue its relationship with the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) after the July 14 Local Government Elections. During a meeting last week in Scarborough, the NAR’s Tobago arm reiterated its opposition to the Trinidad executive’s decision to form an alliance with the UNC for the upcoming polls. Sankersingh said while that meeting did not go favourably, he did not believe that the NAR’s decision to team up with the UNC and continue this relationship after July 14 would cause the party to become fragmented.  The NAR leader declared that “common sense” would enable anyone to see that a building of ties between the two parties will strengthen the NAR and bring back the “spirit of 1986”. The NAR seems set to fight most of the electoral districts from Port-of-Spain to Arima while the UNC will concentrate mostly on its traditional areas.

Sankersingh stated that NAR supporters will be encouraged to vote UNC in districts where the party has no candidates. UNC chairman Wade Mark indicated that UNC supporters would vote for the NAR in those districts where it has no candidates. Sankersingh declined to say when the NAR and UNC would field joint political platforms for next month’s elections or if the party would join in the Opposition’s Monday night public meetings. The NAR leader was present at the UNC’s meeting at Port-of-Spain City Hall on Monday where Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday said more would be revealed about the UNC-NAR’s accommodation for the July 14 polls at future meetings. Panday ruled out any accommodation with Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj’s National Team Unity (NTU) as “fiction”. Former NAR/UNC stalwart Trevor Sudama said any alliance between the two would fail to defeat the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) in next month’s polls. NTU, former PNM Minister Wendell Mottley’s Citizens Alliance and the Democratic Party of Trinidad and Tobago are not contesting the elections.