PNM election machine rumbles again

THE PNM is already gearing up to fight Local Government (2006) and general elections (2007) in Trinidad and Tobago because a recent Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) report, recommending that Trinidad and Tobago be divided into 41 constituencies, has given the ruling party a better than average chance of winning the elusive two-thirds parliamentary majority (24 seats) required to effectively govern the country. Addressing yesterday’s post-PNM General Council news conference at Balisier House, party chairman Franklyn Khan said Prime Minister Patrick Manning discussed the EBC report with the General Council for the first time since it was laid in Parliament last month. Khan said Manning suggested that prior to the report being accepted by Parliament, it should be adopted by the PNM “as we build a template for a new election map as it were coming to the 2006 local and 2007 general elections.”

“Everybody who comes to General Council are fairly matured political activists, so they understand elections, constituencies and numbers. So there is no issue of pulling wool over anybody’s eyes. We have gone on record as a party that we are quite comfortable with the report. We have analysed the report and we know the statistics that it now shows but there is a whole approval process now,” Khan stated. He added that the PNM’s leadership will discuss the report in greater detail when it meets on Wednesday at Balisier House. In terms of the PNM’s election machinery, Khan said: “We will decide what action we need to take. After the report is tabled and accepted in Parliament, we will now have to reconfigure the structure of the PNM so that the executives will now be reformed along the new party lines, constituency boundaries and stuff like that.”

The PNM chairman said it was apparent that “the EBC made a conscious effort to keep the election close so that nobody will have an advantage.” “What they have done of significance, is open up between ten to 12 what you can now call marginal seats. Under the old system, the election was locked up. Five marginal seats determined who won the election. They have opened up the race. It gives any party now that can do its work, a genuine chance of obtaining a two-thirds majority which is what the country really needs for effective governance,” he declared. He said the PNM agreed with Manning’s view that a 41 constituency system will encourage parliamentarians to work harder to represent their constituents.

Noting that his Ortoire/Mayaro constituency has been split in two (Mayaro and Princes Town South/Tableland), Khan said: “The status quo remains. Every MP remains an MP of their predefined constituency up until 2007.” Khan added it was premature to say which of these constituencies he would contest in 2007 and reminded reporters that the PNM had a system whereby it selected its candidates for Local Government and general elections. He said the party was not disturbed by UNC claims that 41 constituencies tilted political power in the PNM’s favour.